Selene
by J Nox
Summary: This is a HxOC in which there could be some OOC. My Pen Name has nothing to do with the story, I just needed a name to write under. Sorry for the bad summary, I promise my story will be better than this. Edit: Hiatus. This is all she wrote. Literaly.
1. Prologue: His Last Battle

_Hello, and welcome to my first fanfiction! I shall begin by chatting about things that you most likely don't care about and will probably skip to read my story and figure out for yourself whether you think it is or isn't worth reading the rest of once I post it. Well, here's a disclaimer: I don't own anything out of __Sleepy Hollow.__ Also, my pen name has nothing to do with the story. I actually began writing the story before I made the account on here and just needed a good name, so I might change my pen name somewhere along the way._

_Oh, and_ "Squee"_ is speaking and _'Squee'_ is thinking._

**Selene**

**Prologue**

His Last Battle

A black stallion tied to a post away from the other soldiers' mounts was rearing and striking out at the grooms closing in on him. He was a monstrous beast; most of the men didn't even come up to his shoulder, and he had eyes the same color of the recent bloodstains on his ebony coat.

"What is going on here?!" The head groom had just walked into view. "The general won't like it if his horse isn't cleaned up."

A few of the grooms shuddered. None of them liked their new General. The last person to leave his horse a mess hadn't been seen since. True, the German mercenary did abandon his own army and join the Americans, but there was a rumor that his troops had forsaken him and he'd only joined the American ranks for revenge. Still, he was the best they had, ergo he became general.

"But it's not our fault!" Cried one of the older grooms. "The brute won't let us near him!"

"Then who tacked him up for the last battle?"

"One of the new lads."

"Well? Then what are you waiting for? Go get him!" They scrambled to do as he ordered, none of them wanting to be the ones around when the general found his favorite warhorse still covered in sweat and blood.

A moment later, one of the old grooms returned with a boy dressed in raggedy clothes. He kept his head down so his hat covered most of his face.

"Ah, this is the boy?"

The groom nodded. "Yup. Found 'im not too far from the town we passed not too long ago. What was it called? Sumthin' about a hollow…"

"Yes… Well. What's your name, boy?"

"Oh, 'e's mute sir. Can't talk."

"Yes, that's what mute means." He snapped, clearly growing agitated with this old man. "Well, boy. Can you look after this horse?"

The boy nodded, the gesture so slight if you hadn't been looking for it you wouldn't have thought he'd moved at all. He took one of the discarded buckets of soapy water and approached the great black horse.

"Is it wise to let a lad approach that beast when he nearly killed some of our best men?" Asked the head groom.

"Aye, tha's wha' I thought the other day." The old man chuckled.

To the head groom's astonishment, when the boy got within range of the stallion, the beast didn't even try to attack. Instead, the horse nudged him, causing the boy to spill water down his front. The demon who'd been tethered to that post a moment before was nowhere in sight; the horse there now was as docile as the boy himself. The boy set the bucket down and began to scrub the charger's inky coat. By now other grooms had gathered to watch. They were shocked when the great stallion lowered his head and sighed with pleasure under the boy's ministrations.

The head groom shuddered. "That ain't natural. How can a horse go from wild to tame just because of a boy?"

When the boy was almost done, the General's mount had fallen asleep to the onlookers' bewilderment. But a moment later the fiend's nostrils flared and one of his ears twitched. Footsteps were coming from the tents where the army was camped out. The warhorse lifted his head slightly and nickered. A moment later, the grooms (including the head groom) scrambled once again. There was only one man the stallion ever treated thus.

The General appeared from behind a small clump of tents. He was the only one in the army who didn't wear one of the gray soldiers' uniforms. Instead he wore the black armor he arrived with. The chest plate was outlined with strange silver markings and so were the gauntlets he wore. The rest of his outfit was completely black just like his horse, from his tall boots to the worn cloak than fluttered in the light breeze. The rest of the men would have accepted this, but his armor wasn't what frightened them.

He had long, black hair which wasn't unusual among his fellow mercenaries, and his face was well defined with high cheek bones and a strait aquiline nose, but his teeth were filed into points which made his face appear demonic when he grinned, and he had inhuman, ice blue eyes.

He walked up to the stallion who nudged him like he had the boy. The General smiled and removed his gauntlets to rub the horse's face.

"Wie sind Sie, Freund? Behandelten sie Sie gut, während ich weg war?" he muttered to the large horse.

The boy finished strapping the saddle onto the great charger's back before stepping back to watch the general talk to his horse.

The general turned to look at the boy who was looking up at him. Now that the boy's face was uncovered, it was obvious no boy could have such a beautiful, almost exotic-looking face. She smiled up at him.

"I missed you." She said, stepping closer.

He plucked the hat disdainfully from her head, spilling her short dark hair onto her shoulders. "I loathe this ratty thing. Get rid of it."

She smiled even wider, trying to hold in a laugh. "You greet me the same every time, and every time I give you the same answer, 'I would if I could, but I can't.' No women are allowed in the army, so I have to stay in disguise."

He dropped the hat onto Daredevil's back and swept her into his arms. She laughed out loud then eeped and put a hand over her mouth, making him laugh. She leaned against his chest and smiled, closing her eyes so she could just listen to his heartbeat.

"After the war." She murmured.

"Hmm?" he replied, his voice sending vibrations through her body.

She opened her eyes, but stared at the horse's now shining ebony coat rather than look at him, worried at what she might see there. "After the war, when we're all through here, what will you do then?"

He though a moment, resting his chin on the top of her head. "Go home. Back to Germany with Daredevil." He stepped back and patted the horse's neck lovingly then looked down at her again with a question in his gaze, his eyes saying more than his words.

"Then, what will become of me?" she looked up at him from beneath her bangs.

"I'm not sure, but if I remember correctly, they don't care what gender your groom is in Germany." He smiled down at her as she beamed up at him, the unspoken promise ringing between them.

She then became aware of the action in the tents behind her General. The sounds of hushed orders and men clambering around to get their equipment masked the sound of her and her general.

"Now, my little one, come here." He said, grinning. "I also remember in Germany, it is a lady's duty to wish her man luck going into battle."

His face began to descend toward hers, but she put her hands on his shoulders to stop him.

"Swear to me you will return."

"I swear I'll try."

She shook her head. "That's not good enough. You have to swear to me." She looked pleadingly up at him.

He hesitated, then sighed. "I swear, nothing will keep me from returning to you."

She pulled him down and he needed no further urging. They stood locked together, lost in the moment, neither one wanting to let go, but knowing they had only minutes before the other soldiers would come to get their mounts. The imperial stallion Daredevil was the only witness to their last moment together.

_Thanks for reading, even if you didn't like it. If you did like it, then review and tell me so, or if you didn't then review anyway and tell me how I can improve. Any advice is helpful even if you're telling me to burn this and get rid of my keyboard. And if anyone has a better title or pen name I am open to suggestions. Thanks again,_

_**Nox**_


	2. Chapter 1: Meeting of the Councilmen

_Welcome Back! Glad you've returned, or are still reading. Fot the disclaimer, see the previous chapter. Enjoy!_

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**Chapter One**

Meeting of the Councilmen

Selene sat with her legs folded up to her chest to avoid the beam of flickering candlelight emitting from the crack between the dark wardrobe's doors. She wrapped her arms around her legs, holding them tight to keep herself from trying to relieve the ache from sitting that way for too long. She wasn't sure how long she'd been stuck in there along with the musty coats and hats, but it must be past sunset for them to have lit candles.

She laid her head on her knees, her long, nearly black hair brushing her bare toes and sighed silently. So far nothing of interest had come up in the council's meeting. Trivial affairs of farming, the upcoming winter that was still months away, who shot who's pig and what to do about it, the usual. They nearly bored her to tears. She was almost asleep when something they said something about the western woods.

"After all, it's not really of any use to us, and we could always use the land for more housing."

"And some more shops, so the newcomers have places to work."

"I say we build something that will attract visitors, towns with tourist attractions always make it big."

"To do that, we would need to have some serious money. Isn't the whole reason we decided to tear down the forest is so we could make more money?"

Selene's heart nearly stopped. They were going to destroy the western woods? They couldn't! Both she and her Aunt Marie had been living there for as long as she could remember. The forest was their home! Neither of them have any other relatives they knew of. Selene had never met her father, and her mother had died a long time ago when she was very little. Another man's voice interrupted her frantic thoughts.

"Maybe we shouldn't get rid of the forest."

"Why ever not? It already looks dead, we'd just be chopping down dead trees."

"Well… what I mean to say is…"

Another one of the men began to laugh. Selene recognized his voice. It was Brock Smith, that new man who had came from New Jersey. He had easily gotten himself onto the council by smooth talking the head of the council, Robert VanTassel. In fact, he had gotten nearly everyone to like him that way, and it did help that he didn't look so bad either. If you were one of the few who would look past all that, like Selene had, you would find a perverse, hotheaded, egotistical, selfish, playboy.

"Oh come now, Mr.VanBrunt, you can't still believe in that old wives' tale about the Hessian soldier?" Said Brock.

Hessian soldier? Hadn't Marie told her a legend about a Hessian once?

The man, Mr.VanBrunt, spoke up again, rebuking the Brock's laughter. "It isn't just an old wives' tale! My father told me how his uncle was killed at the hands of the headless horseman!"

Now she remembered the story. Supposedly, almost forty years ago, during the war on independence when America first became a country, a Hessian mercenary who loved battle came from Germany to fight for Britain. Then the Britain army got rid of him because he was rumored to be a demon in disguise so he joined the American ranks. He had been killed by a group of red-coats who shot his horse and outnumbered him, then cut off his head with his own sword. His headless ghost had been rumored to haunt the western woods, riding through the trees on his enormous black horse, cutting off heads to replace his own. But that, Marie had told her, was a lie. He was a ghost yes, but ghosts can't harm the living unless they possess them. Then, just about twenty years ago, the Hessian rose again, but this time acting once more a mercenary. A woman had sold her soul to the devil to ground The Hessian's soul so he could kill for her. Ghosts by themselves can't hurt you, but when you ground one, you bind it to this earth so it can once more have form. The woman used his skull to command him to kill for her revenge, but in the end, thanks to a constable from New York, his skull was returned and the woman was dragged into Hell by the Hessian.

"Mr. VanBrunt, even if that forged tale is true, then it's over, isn't it? From what I've heard, he got his head back, why should he still haunt the wood?"

A silence fell over them.

"I guess that's settled then. What should we build over the remains of the woods?"

"You know, I think it's getting rather late." Said Mr. VanTassel. "We should probably go home and decide next meeting. Till next month then, gentlemen."

There was the loud scraping of several chairs, but Brock shouted over the noise.

"Now wait a minute," but he cut himself off after the door banged closed. Then Brock yelled and there was an even louder bang, apparently he lost his temper. Another loud bang announced his departure and Selene finally got to stand and stretch. She stayed in the wardrobe a moment longer, just to be sure they had all left, then opened the door just a little to allow her brilliantly green eyes to peer out into the now empty and dark room. One of the chairs was lying on its back, apparently what Brock unleashed his anger on. She opened the only door in the room and looked around inside the deserted courthouse.

She crept to the main door and gingerly pushed on it, preying it wouldn't squeak. Her luck held out and she squeezed herself through the small opening she made. The sun had nearly set but its light glow could still be seen over the houses. She looked up and down the street and sighed when she found it barren. She took a moment to enjoy the stillness of the town, shaking out her long, dark hair to the cool air could reach the back of her neck. She was glad she hadn't worn shoes, the icy cobblestones of the path massaged the souls of her heated feet. Her dark, worn dress fluttered around her legs, brushing against her calves in a caress. 'This is why I love the dark' thought Selene, sighing as she raising her nearly seemingly exotic face to the moon which was just visible overhead.

She sighed once more before slipping around the corner of the old building. She was suddenly stopped short by something big and slightly soft, but undoubtedly solid. For the second time that night, her heart sank to somewhere around her toes.

"Hello, Selene." Said the cocky voice of Brock Smith. She kept her face bowed in respect, or rather, so she wouldn't have to look up at that smug, wanton face of his. "Good evening, Mr. Smith. W- what are you doing out here so late?"

"I should be asking you the very same thing, little Miss." 'Oh, heaven forbid!' Thought Selene, resisting the impulse to roll her eyes, 'He's given me a nickname!'

"Um, well… I was out shopping…"

"And?"

"And… I lost track of time."

"Really?" he asked, leaning his arm on the wall over Selene's head, caging her in. She made sure to keep her head down.

Why would he take in interest in her? She was tall for a woman of her age, and her hair was too thin to be pretty. She wasn't as beautiful as most of the other girls in the town.

"You could have just told the truth. I know what you're up to, Little Miss." And just like that, her heart, which was just beginning to recover from its last fall, plummeted again.

"Y- you do?" she stammered.

"Of course. All women do everything they can to get the chance to see me." She nearly sighed in annoyance. 'He got me all worked up for nothing!'

"But don't worry, I won't tell anyone I caught you sneaking around." His voice deepened and he began to close in on her.

"I-I wasn't!" She stammered, his closeness making her uncomfortable.

He chuckled, leaning his other arm on the other side of her head so that he was so close, she had no choice but to look up at him.

"Don't worry, little Miss, your secret's safe with me." And with that, he closed the gap between them, planting his lips firmly on hers.

Instantaneously, huge boiling waves of rage and loathing washed over her, nearly clouding her mind and choking her thoughts as another presence brushed up agents her mind. _'Who does this Junge think he is?!'_ The male voice nearly shouted inside her head. The only thing she identified about this voice was the slight German accent. She knew she'd never heard it before.

She ripped away from Brock and had shoved his arm out of her way before she realized what she was doing. She paused, then lightly curtsied to him.

"Good night, Mr. Smith." She said briskly, trying hard to keep the anger from her voice. She saw him grinning at her from his place leaning against the wall before she turned and walked away.

"Good night, little Miss. Dream of me." 'In _your_ dreams' she thought venomously.

At that moment, the strange presence at the back of her mind grin savagely before slowly retreating from her mind like sap oozing from a tree.

After it was gone, she ran to where she had tethered her black mare, Belle. She quickly freed the reigns from a tree's branch and slid them over Belle's neck before vaulting onto the horse's back. Selene's panic and whatever was left of the presence's anger seemed to infect the inky mare because she leapt into a run and they began their flight through the trees back to the cave that was their home.

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_Thanks once more. If you hadn't realized, this chapter was a few years after the prologue. I published this chaoter the same night as the prologue also, so once more, please review and I need a better title and a better pen name. Thanks!_

_**Nox**_


	3. Chapter 2: The Unknown Presence

Chapter Two 

The Unknown Presence

When Selene finally made it back to the cave, both her and Belle were covered in sweat. Selene leapt off the black mare and took her reigns, rubbing the little white stripe running down Belle's face. She looked up to the top of the small cliff and found the moon was just visible over the little waterfall to the left of where she was standing. She led Belle to the gap between two boulders where the entrance to their home was. The gap was just wide enough so Belle could fit through without scraping up her sides.

They found themselves in a chamber that could have been a small house. In the half closest to the entrance was an odd looking workshop, filled with various herbs hanging from the ceiling and small animals in cages. On the other side was a bed, a mat on the floor, which was made up so it was Selene's bed, an old wardrobe with the picture of an archer carved into it, and a small table with three chairs, one of which was never used. Behind that were several cabinets they used for storing all their food. In the very center of the two halves was another gap between the rocks that was slightly bigger than the entrance, and a hearth with a tall lounge chair placed in front of it.

Selene couldn't see any sign of her aunt, so she led Belle toward the gap next to the hearth, and jumped when she passed the chair.

"Well?" said her aunt, sitting comfortably in the chair. "How did things go?"

"Hello, Marie."

Marie, Selene's aunt, was very young for an aunt. She was about in her mid-thirties and it was obvious she took very good care of herself. Her short blond hair was still wet from a bath she no doubt took not too long ago. All her clothes were in good condition, most of which she made herself. Her nails were always spotless and she kept them cut not too long, not too short, whereas Selene kept hers short so they wouldn't get it the way when she worked.

"What happened, Selene?" Marie said noticing the state of her niece and Belle.

Selene continued to lead Belle through the gap in the wall, coming out on the other side in a small room where the floor was covered in straw and an almost empty bucket of water was sitting beside a wall along with a small pile of brushes.

"Well, I have bad news, good news, then even worse news." She started.

Marie followed her into the tiny one-room stable and watched Selene pick up a brush and begin to brush the dirt and sweat from the mare.

Selene began to recount her tale with her attention still on the horse.

"Well, during the meeting, the councilmen were talking about destroying the western woods to make room for building something else." At this statement her aunt gasped.

"They can't!"

"That's what I thought, but then Mr. VanBrunt spoke up and disagreed, saying something about the ghost of a headless horseman. You remember, the one from that story you used to tell me."

"Aye, I remember. But that's no story, what he said was true. But no one has seen the horseman since he regained his head."

"Yea, that was what Brock said."

"Brock? You mean Brock Smith, that newcomer?" asked Marie, sounding disbelieving.

"Yea, I told you the other day, he became best friends with Mr. VanTassel and wound up on the council."

"Oh yea, so what happened after that?"

"Well, then VanBrunt began to preach about the horseman, and the other councilmen got nervous. After that, they all decided to call it a day, which angered Brock." Selene grinned at that part.

"So, I'm guessing I've heard the bad and good news, what's the worse news?"

"Um…" Selene grew very interested in a spot of dirt on Belle's coat and was silent for several seconds before Marie spoke up again. "Well?"

"Well, when I was leaving, I kind of accidentally bumped into Brock." At the nasty scowl Marie gave her promising lots of suffering to come, she quickly added, "But he was so thick headed that he thought I was trying to stalk him."

"Go on," Said Marie, her temper falling slowly.

"Well, he sort of, did something to me," Selene hid her reddening face from her aunt with her horse, but Marie's smile told her that her aunt already could tell what happened.

"Really, sweetheart, that can't be considered worse news."

"No, but it is bad."

"Then do you really have worse news?"

"Yes." She said, beginning to shake at the memory.

"Well, while Brock was… bothering me, I was suddenly filled with hatred, not like passing anger, but like a deep sense of loathing for him that felt like it wasn't my own. And then there was this voice…"

"What did it say?" asked Marie, now completely serious. She knew she could believe Selene, her niece would never lie to her, especially about something like this.

"It said, it said something insulting about Brock, though I'm not sure what. I didn't understand the word he used. It sounded like something from another language."

"Did you recognize the voice?"

"No, I just knew that is was a man's, and that it had a slight accent. I think it was German."

Selene looked up over Belle's now clean back to see her aunt's face pale.

"What is it?" she asked, dropping the brush back into the small pile beside the wall.

"Are you sure he was German?"

"No, but I'm sure he had a foreign accent, and I think it was German."

They were silent for a moment, then Marie walked back into the other room with Selene right on her heels.

"You're not telling me something, Marie." Said Selene as she dropped the short log into place in front of Belle's 'stall'.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She replied with her back turned.

"Now see here-"

"Here." Said Marie, cutting Selene off by handing her a bucket. "Go get us some water while you take your bath. You might want to get Belle some too."

"What?" Cried Selene, "But I've been out all night! I'm tired! Can't I just take one tomorrow?"

"And let you sleep filthy in your nice, clean bed? Of course not!"

Selene groaned then went to get Belle's bucket. When she came back Marie gave her a bar of soap too. "Wash, don't just dunk your head, I'll be able to tell and send you back again."

Selene shot her a dirty look then grabbed her cloak and left. The night wasn't that cold, but the water would be freezing.

She walked to the waterfall then began to walk down stream where the water wasn't so cloudy. When the water finally calmed down enough where it didn't stir up the mud from the bottom she first dipped in Belle's bucket, careful not to touch the bottom and reawaken the dirt.

Once she filled them both, she left them there so she could walk further down the river to where it deepened a little more. She folded up her cloak and set it on a rock near her, then sat on the bank of the river and let her legs float in the water, listening for any sounds. After a few minutes, she decided it was safe. It was so late in the night that it was almost morning; even the crickets were asleep.

Selene undressed quickly, then grabbed the bar of soap and slid into the water. 'Damn it's cold!' She thought as she fought hard to keep her teeth from chattering. She washed hurriedly, scrubbing the rough soap her aunt had made just a week ago into her hair and over her body.

As she watched the current carry the bubbles away, she thought back on what happened.

She finished washing and eagerly climbed out of the icy water. She sat against the rock her cloak was lying on and rung out her hair in the hopes that the sun just beginning to peak from beneath the horizon could dry her.

What had she been feeling when Brock had kissed her? She knew what the presence felt, but what about her? She knew she hadn't enjoyed it and that now she was ashamed of it. She went back to that moment and looked beyond the presence's feeling to search for her own.

'Nothing…' Selene thought angrily. 'What did Marie do when she had trouble like this? Oh yea, meditate. It's worth a shot'

Selene closed her eyes and relaxed, or tried to. Almost immediately she became aware of every little sound. The stream became an ocean smashing against a cliff, a bat that flew overhead was as loud as a wet blanket flapping in hurricane winds. After a few minutes in which she almost opened her eyes she somehow managed to ignore her sense of hearing. Then her nose itched. She scratched it and tried to clear her mind, but then one of her legs grew stiff and she opened her eyes again. This wasn't working; she needed something to keep her stray thoughts busy.

She started to count, and for a moment it felt like that was working, but then she realized she was counting the number of times the river splashed against the opposite side of the rock she was leaning against. She sighed in annoyance, then realized that helped a little. She sighed again, but not as noisily. She took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it out gently. She did this a few more times, concentrating on the way her chest and stomach swelled and shrank every time she breathed. Breathe in. Hold it. Breathe out. In. Hold. Out.

'Now,' she thought, 'about my problem.' She let the moment into her mind once more, and instead of ignoring his feelings, she erased them from the situation completely.

The first thing she felt was a little awkwardness mixed with disgust, and fear. That, she thought, was odd. She could understand the first part, but Selene wasn't afraid of just anything, all her fears were usually legitimate. And she would always face them, learn to get over them and go on living her life. She wasn't afraid of creepy crawly things like most girls (and some men, i.e. Ichabod Crane.) She was scared of things like powerful, grounded, malicious ghosts, or people coming to cut down the Western woods. She used to be scared of hights too, but then she learned how to climb well and now she was fine. 'What was I frightened of?' She found she wasn't scared of Marie's retribution, and she only found herself slightly frightened of being caught (being kissed or sneaking into the meeting.) What Selene found she was most afraid of, was Brock himself?

She opened her eyes at this startling revelation. She realized she had always been afraid of Brock, deep down inside. 'Who else am I scared of?' She closed her eyes once more, breathed again for a moment or two, then looked back on a few of the encounters with people she's had.

When she went shopping for her and her Aunt, she found she was scared of the mean Mrs. Dermot who ran the general store while her husband was out shipping this and that. She was frightened of Mr. Joans, the local milkman who was wandering about delivering milk in the mornings. She was even scared of old Mr. VanKint, the widower who did nothing all day but sit on the deck of the Rocking Horse (the local tavern) and chew tobacco.

"I am afraid of people…" Selene said out loud, almost stunned. She sat there a moment, looking back on all the points where this little phobia altered her life. She had almost no friends to speak of, and she never traveled the town in mid-morning or the early afternoon when the people were usually out. She had made herself an outcast.

She remembered why she had began to think this way at all and began to concentrate on her breathing once more. It took her a little longer this time. In. Hold. Out.

'Had my fear made me vulnerable to that presence's attack?' Selene went back on everything she knew about the presence that had invaded her mind. She had realized instantly that they were someone else's emotions, even before he spoke. She knew he was male and from another country, possibly German. She knew he got very angry when Brock kissed her. _Very_ angry, though why, she didn't know. She also knew when she pushed Smith's arm away and quickly put some distance between him and her, the presence was fiercely happy. That scared her. Why should he care about her or who she was with?

'_Strange place to be thinking about me, mein wenig ein.'_ It was him again! The presence was back! Selene jumped up and grabbed her cloak to cover her nakedness. "Who are you? What do you want with me?" The man just chuckled and vanished from her mind again, although this time she got the impression of sharp teeth in an equally sharp grin.

Selene hurriedly dressed and nearly ran back upriver. She skidded to a halt when she saw the buckets of water and picked them up. She then continued but at a slower pace so as not to spill the water.

'Why did he attack again?' She thought as she ran, 'I aren't I as scared of him as I am of Brock?'


	4. Chapter 3: Without Marie

_Yay! Hi again! Well, here's another chapter!_

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Chapter Three

Without Marie

When Selene woke the next day, it took her a second to remember what had happened the night before. She sat up and looked around for her aunt, but Marie wasn't there. She probably went off to gather herbs.

Selene got up and walked around the little cave, just to make sure she was gone. Selene had to admit that she felt bad for not telling Marie she heard the voice again. But she didn't want her to know she was thinking about him while she was… indecent. It was bad enough that he noticed

She checked in on Belle, but she was gone. Now that was unusual, Marie hardly ever rode when she could walk. Marie didn't like horses much. 'Maybe she just had to replenish a whole lot of herbs, or some that were farther away.'

Selene looked around for anything like a note from Marie. On the table she did find a note on top of something wrapped in the red hankerchif that was embroidered with her name in some kind of fancy squgally writing. The note read:

Selene,

We're almost out of meat so I'll need you to go hunting today. You could also use some new firs for your winter blanket, so I suggest going after something kind of big. I fleched you some new arrows and made you a new bowstring yesterday, the arrows are on your quiver and I left the bowstring on my work table. I packed you some bread and cheese in the handkerchief for a meal. I would call it lunch, but you probably got up about noon, so just eat it at some point in the day. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I know you can fend for yourself until I get back.

_Marie_

Selene read the note over again then placed it on the table back with her 'lunch' before hurriedly getting dressed. The last line in Marie's note worried her. 'What did she mean? She wouldn't be gone for too long, a day tops, right?'

She pulled on her only pair of black slacks and the long sleeved shirt that went with it. She used these clothes to hunt along with her cloak. She slid on her old belt and tied her hunting knife to it. She went and fetched the new bowstring from her aunt's work table and wrapped it in the oiled cloth that used to hold her old bowstring before it broke. She slid the cloth and string into her pocket, then went back to the table and folded up the note from Marie and put it in her other pocket and grabbed her cloth lunch. She swung her cloak about her shoulders and did the clasp in the front so it would stay on, and took her bow case and her quiver from their place by the wardrobe and first tied the quiver onto her belt so she could reach them her arrows easily. She pulled on her boots, slipped the bow case onto her left shoulder and walked outside.

Marie was right; judging by the sun's high position in the sky it was around noon. Selene set off along the edge of the cliff until she found a familiar deer trail. There she stopped, strung her bow, stuffed her 'lunch' into her bow case, flipped the hood of her cloak onto her head, and then set off down the trail.

Almost half an hour's walk later, she finally found fresh deer hoof prints. Marie had said to get something big, and the largest animals around here were deer. Even so, usual their shoulders only reached up to her hip.

Selene slipped off of the path and into the underbrush of the forest. Most would think it strange that her cloak didn't catch on any of the bushes and twigs as she walked through them trying not to make any noise. Selene knew better. Marie had made this cloak for her, and nothing Marie ever did was normal. Once, when Selene had left her cloak lying in a corner somewhere, she'd not been able to find it for almost three days, so apparently it either had a charm on it so if you saw it, you immediately looked away, or forgot you saw it. Either that or she wove shadows into it. It must sound strange, but she'd seen the things Marie could do with cloth and string.

About ten feet away from where she left the path, Selene knelt down, unclipped the cap from her quiver, and notched an arrow onto the new string.

Selene waited there until almost sundown. She had eaten her 'lunch' about two hours ago She was just about to give up and go home to try again tomorrow, when she heard rustling a little ways off on the far side of the path. Something big leapt out of the forest onto the path. She raised her still notched bow and drew the string back so it was level with her ear, aiming at the path, waiting for the beast to come within her sight. Soon, an old, battle marred buck came ambling down the path. He was huge! He was taller than she was, and that was only his head. He had a big set of antlers also. She just watched him pass, awed. Then, when he had just passed out of sight, she remembered she was hunting.

She loosened the tension on her bowstring and hurried to catch up with him, keeping as quiet as she could. When she caught sight of him again, she slowed down and kept at a distance. Selene noticed there was a limp in his walk, maybe from an old injury, or maybe a new one. Either way it would make him easy prey. He paused abruptly and looked back and she froze. His ears twitched, listening for any sound. After two minutes of silence, he began to walk again. This buck was paranoid. He knew he was injured, alone, and a very large supply of food for anything or anyone who can catch him.

Selene crouched lower, reveling in this feeling. Something about this thrilled her. The excitement of creeping along behind this creature, hunting it. She slowly became aware of the presence in her mind again. He was emitting the same exhilaration she was.

"Shh…" She whispered under her breath, too caught up in the moment to worry about him right then.

She froze once more as the buck turned to stare directly at her, his ears swiveling.

They stood there, both staring at one another. Her heart was pounding against her rib cage. Any second now, he was going to run.

'As soon as he moves, he'll get my arrow in his chest.' She heard the man laugh in her head, sending a strange feeling shooting up her body that she couldn't identify.

She knelt there, tense. Waiting for the buck to move. But the buck's eyes were empty, he couldn't see her. He was listening, sniffing, looking, but as far as he knew he was alone.

'_He can feel the shadow of death stalking him'_ said the voice_. 'It is not a pleasant feeling. I remember it well. How could I forget?'_

It felt like he was right behind her, stalking this buck with her.

'His time is drawing to an end, if I am not the one to take him, then someone else less kind will. I never miss; I can't say the same for others.'

The buck turned and ambled at a fast pace along another, less traveled path and out of the range of her arrows. Selene cursed under her breath and followed. She didn't have to worry about keeping quiet now that he knew he was being hunted.

Selene jumped onto the path and ran behind him, arrow still knocked but bow un-drawn. Fortunately, that injury of his was making him very slow, for even though she was a fast runner for a human, she still couldn't match the speed of a deer. He turned his head to look at her and she could see bloody foam dripping from his muzzle and his eyes wide with fear. She could hear him panting.

'_To him, you look like a shadow wraith.' _Said the voice, _'He thought there were no more in the forest, and he is right. The witches of old had banished all traces of black magic from this forest, but it had left it's mark.'_

'So that's why it looks so terrifying.'

When they came to a small incline in the path, her instincts told her to end his life here. She stopped abruptly, then pulled the hood off her head.

'It is better that he knows what killed him was flesh and blood rather than the forest betraying him.'

'_You are very honorable. Any soldier would be content to die on your sword.'_

Standing straight, she swiftly pulled the fleched end of her arrow level with her ear. As she aimed, the noble buck galloped to the top of the slope and paused to look back at her. He looked very regal, the dying sun outlined in his antlers. He almost took her breath away.

She released the arrow just as the sun disappeared over the ridge and the buck collapsed. She walked up the hill and knelt down near the buck's corpse.

'_Mai ruhen Sie sich in Frieden aus'_ said the man and then vanished from her mind once more.

She drew her knife from its sheath and carefully cut the arrow out of the buck's chest then wiped it off on her cloak before sliding it back in the quiver and tying it closed.

Selene sighed, dreading what was to come next. She picked up her now bloody knife again and got to work on dressing down the buck. A breeze picked up and blew her hood back onto her head while she was bent over the deer's head.

She had taken the deer's head off and had started to cut his pelt off when the sound of hoof beats reached her ears. She looked over her shoulder to see none other than Brock. He pulled the bay horse he'd been riding to a stop when he saw her, causing his mount to toss his head and back up a step at the sudden rough treatment.

'Why does he always have to show up at the worst times?' Thought Selene. Hunting was a man's job. If she was caught she would be subject to the whole town's ridicule.

"Demon!" Cried Brock. He fumbled around for something, probably some kind of weapon.

'Of course!' She thought, 'he can't see it's me. He must think me a moving shadow!'

He finally seemed to find what he was looking for because he kicked his horse into motion. The horse ran at her and Brock held a hatchet high in the air.

'Uh oh.' Selene dove off the path back into the forest just as the horse's hooves reached the bottom of the slope.

Selene watched Brock pull the horse to a stop when he was not four feet from her and look around.

"Come out, fiend!" He yelled.

After some more shouting and a few thrown rocks, he finally seemed to notice the deer. He gripped the reigns again and the horse backed up once more. That was when Selene noticed the blood at the corners of his steed's mouth. 'That poor animal!' She decided to scare Brock a little, to get him out of the forest and so he'd stop mistreating his horse. Maybe if he thought the forest was haunted, he would think twice about destroying it. She darted to another tree closer to him and he jumped.

"I see you, evil spirit! Come out and fight like a man!"

She uncapped her arrows again and knocked it, then pulled back the string; all the while keeping it hidden behind a tree. She carefully took aim, then moved quickly so she could shoot and then dart away to another tree, all in one fluid motion. All he saw was the shadow move again, and suddenly there was an arrow speeding toward him. Before he could do anything, the arrow had already passed, taking a lock of hair from his head and imbedding itself into the tree behind him. The horse spooked and backed up a ways.

"You missed, devil!" She smiled at the quake in his voice and decided to give him another message.

She performed the same trick again, but this time the arrow shot into the lock of blonde hair now pinned to the tree.

Brock's face went as white as milk and he hurriedly whirled the horse around before hitting it with the ax handle to spur it on. As soon as the horse's hoof beats had faded into the distance, she stepped out to her kill again. She retrieved the two arrows and just let the strands of hair fall to the dirt. She then finished the messy job of cleaning the deer.

The next morning Selene woke up the same as the morning before. The only difference was the pounding of the rain on the trees. Marie's bed was exactly the same as it had been the day before. She looked around for a note, but there was none.

Selene poured some water from the bucket into a kettle to put over the hearth then took some kindling and began to light a fire.

'Where is Marie? Shouldn't she have been back by now?' When the kettle began to hiss, Selene got a mug, put some tea leaves in it, then added the water. She mixed her tea then scooped out as much of the tea leaves as she could and took a sip. Almost immediately she felt more relaxed. 'Marie must have added betony to this batch.'

When she was finished, she felt relaxed and blissful. 'I guess she added pine too.'

Selene got dressed into a light yellow dress and just sat before the fire, listening to the rain.

"She'll be back tomorrow. She stopped somewhere for the day because of the weather. Just watch, tomorrow morning, I'll be sitting here, drinking my tea and she'll walk in with Belle and say, 'What are you doing in my chair?' like she always does" Selene said out loud.

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_Hope you all liked it! Of course, no one could be reading this and I wouldn't even know it. Especially since no one has yet reviewed or messaged me. Hello? (echo: hello?) Is anyone there? (echo: anyone there?)_


	5. Chapter 4: The Market

_Hello. Welcome to my longest chapter so far! I think it is anyway..._

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**Chapter Four**

The Market

Nearly three weeks later, Selene was drinking tea almost twice a day. She would have the betony and pine tea, and in the afternoon she'd drink Catnip tea and sometimes add a little poppy to help her sleep. She had to be careful with poppy, she knew it was addicting. More than once she'd had to go out and gather more herbs to refill the ones she took. She'd also get cut up and scraped whenever she tried to get them, because most of them had thorns. Then she'd make a paste from white willow bark to relieve the pain.

Whenever she felt any strong emotion now, the voice would come to her. Most of the time he didn't speak, but when he did he often reminisced about something similar once happening to him. At first she was terrified of him, but she gradually began to get over her fear. She was always uneasy around him though.

She hadn't needed to hunt again, the buck had been providing for her very well. She had preserved his meat with salt and had hung him up high in a tree so no animals could get him. Selene had spent most of her time working on working the buck's light colored pelt into nice condition. She had scraped all the fat from the inside and had strung it out to dry in the sun and moon for a week. Now it was draped over the wardrobe. The rest of her time had been spent mostly in the woods wandering around, checking on the forest, reading the few books she had bought with money from rabbit pelts and some of Marie's embroidery before she had left, or taking care of the herb garden. Often she just sat around and contemplated the mysteries of life.

On this day, Selene was sitting in a tree just outside the cave.

"I wonder if this is all there is to life…" she murmured aloud.

She was feeling particularly lonely today, and not even her most exciting book could cheer her up. The presence was there in the back of her mind but he was only standing there, observing. It felt like she could just look down and see him standing there watching her.

Marie had once told her once that humans were social creatures and that they needed one another, but Selene had been disbelieving. After living almost a month alone, she discovered that it was true. Suddenly she knew would do, she would go to the town! 'What hadn't I thought of that before!' She leapt down from the branches and quickly ran inside for the extra money she had saved up, but found it missing. She looked around for it before deciding Marie must have taken it. Selene scowled for a moment before remembering the nice embroidery she had done the other day when it was raining. Surely Mr. Cavallo, the tailor, would buy them. headed off on the path that would take her to the town.

When she got there, she found the street humming with people. She'd never seen so many people in one place! 'It's a market day!' She felt terrified. The man's presence that had been sleeping in the back of her mind began to surface so she forced herself to calm down.

It looked like all the people from the two neighboring towns had come to the market. She walked down the street, trying not to bump into people while all the while looking around at everything. It seemed not only the local townsfolk had tents displaying their wares, but also others, probably from the other town.

They had everything there. There were foreign tailors auctioning fine silk dresses of every color covered with lace. There were artists selling beautiful paintings of strange places. There were silversmiths displaying everything from gleaming silverware to shiny little buttons. It was enough to make her head spin.

She finally found Mr. Cavallo's shop, but it was closed. In fact, every store was closed.

'Maybe he has a tent.' Selene thought then went wandering around again. People from the tents called out their wares, imploring the passing people to buy. People who had decided to buy something were haggling for prices, some more loudly than others.

After a few minutes later she came across Mr. Cavallo talking to a man named Mr. Lee. Mr. Lee lived on his small ranch of horses to the south of the forest. Selene was surprised they came all the way up here. Mr. Lee was older than Mr. Cavallo who was in his mid-thirties. They were brothers-in-law, Mr. Cavallo was Mrs. Lee's youngest brother, but even though they weren't related by blood, they looked very much alike. They had the same tanned skin, the same blonde hair, they even had the same gray eyes. She knew so much about them because she liked to go down and watch the horses they had loose run.

Selene approached the tent and examined what the wares on display while she waited for them to finish talking. She felt like she was being watched and looked up to find a girl not much younger than herself, maybe sixteen, seventeen years old. She was standing beside Mr. Lee, so Selene assumed she was his daughter. She had fair skin like Selene's, but that was where the similarities ended. She had long, blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes with a heart shaped face. She was petite, graceful, beautiful; the perfect daughter. She nearly made Selene jealous.

Selene went back to examining the dresses, shirts, and other things when the girl looked away.

"Selene!" She jumped when Mr. Cavallo said her name.

"You were the last person I thought would be here. What can I help you with?"

"Well," She began, unfolding the three squares of silk, "I was hoping you would buy these." She handed them over for him to look at. The first was a herd of horses running over a hill led by an enormous white stallion. The second was of the moon shining down upon a dark tree who's roots were spread over the bottom half of the fabric. The third one was the one she was most proud of. It was of a great, white stag, standing on top of a little hill with the trees around him and the sunset shining through his antlers.

"I'm sorry, Selene," sighed Mr. Cavallo, handing them back to her, "but I'm only selling today. Maybe if you-" He was cut off by Miss Lee, who squealed with delight, causing Selene to jump again.

"Oh, they're beautiful! May I see the one with the horses?"

Selene passed it to her, slightly dumbstruck by the complement. Miss Lee looked it over, her eyes shining.

"It's gorgeous! Did you make this?" She asked looking up at Selene.

"Yes, and the other two."

"Wow. Look, father," she held it up so he could inspect it. "This white one looks just like Regal Ivory! That's my father's best stallion." She said aside to Selene.

Mr. Lee nodded, "So he does!"

"Can I get it father, please?" She begged him.

Selene watched this all with curiosity. She'd never seen parents interact with their children. Whenever she had come to town, very few people were ever out so she'd never gotten the chance to.

He laughed, "Fine, how much is it?" he asked opening up his wallet.

"Um…" Selene was a little stunned about all this.

"Here, is fifteen dollars enough?"

Selene just stared at him for a moment, wondering if he was joking.

"Yea" she croaked then cleared her throat and started over. "Yes, that would be wonderful."

He handed over the money and she checked her pocket for any holes before putting the money in.

"Thank you." She said. That embroidery was worth maybe ten dollars, if she got lucky. Why would these people help her like that?

"No, thank you." Said Mr. Lee, pocketing his wallet again and resuming his talk with Mr. Cavallo.

"You have to teach me how you made that." Said the girl, walking over closer to her. "I'm Anna, by the way. Anna Lee," she said offering her hand.

"Selene," said Selene, shaking Anna's hand.

"Don't you have a last name?"

"Should I?" She hadn't really ever thought about it before. Come to think of it, Marie didn't seem to have a last name either. Maybe Marie just hadn't told her about it.

"Almost everyone does. Want to walk around together? Father won't mind," she said as Selene glanced at him.

"Sure," replied Selene.

They walked around for at least two hours, mostly Selene listing to Anna talk about everything. Mostly she wanted to talk about horses.

"Our herd is all purebred Andalusian, that's a breed of horse. Their ancestors came from Spain. They're amazing to ride. Of course we don't ride all of them."

"Why not?" Asked Selene.

"Because there are so many of them! And sometimes people want to buy horses that aren't broken yet. And some of them are broodmares."

"What are they?"

"Broodmares? Mares only used for breeding. I do have a mare of my own. She's a beautiful horse, chestnut-colored and her mane and tail are all black. Her name is Belleza, which means Beauty"

"I have a mare." Said Selene, beginning to miss Belle and Marie again. "Her name is Belle. She's all black with a white stripe going down her face."

"Oh, what breed is she?"

She thought for a moment. "I'm not sure, My aunt brought her home when she was a baby. She said she found her in the forest."

"Oh, maybe I can see her sometime."

"Well, I didn't ride her here, so it will have to be another time."

"That's ok. So you must live around here if you didn't have to ride?"

"Yea, not too far away. I live with my Aunt." said Selene, hoping Anna wouldn't dwell on the subject. Most townsfolk frowned on the fact she lived in the forest.

"Why don't you live with your parents?"

"I don't know what happened to my father, but my mother died when I was small."

"Oh, I'm sorry…" she said, looking sad "I didn't know…"

"That's all right, I was too young to know them, so I don't miss them." that and she was glad to have changed the subject.

They were silent for a little until they stopped to look at a silversmith's tent, then Anna exclaimed, "Oh! Look! This necklace would look good on you!"

She held up a silver crescent moon on a thin matching chain. When it caught the light, Selene could see a tiny diamond set in the center.

"It's beautiful." Murmured Selene who took it from her and examined it. She ran her thumb over the little gem.

"You should get it, it really looks nice on you."

"I wouldn't have enough for this, it's beautiful." murmured Selene.

"Oh come on. I'll haggle for you. If I don't settle beneath your price range with enough left over for lunch at the Rocking Horse, then I'll pay for it and both our lunches out of my own pocket."

"Alright." They both turned to the silversmith who had been eavesdropping without trying to look it.

"How much for the necklace?" Anna asked indifferently, gesturing vaguely toward Selene who was still holding it.

"Ah," said the smith, "that treasure, made from pure silver, with a real diamond in it, is at least thirty dollars."

Selene gaped at him, but Anna laughed and said, "I bet it's not worth two dollars, but I'll be nice and give you five for it."

The smith sneered at her. "Don't insult me, lady. I won't take under twenty-seven for it."

"For that cheap bit of tin? Come on now, let's be honest with each other."

"Twenty-five."

"Six."

"Twenty-two."

"Ten."

"Twenty, and that's as low as I'll go."

Anna banged her hands on the table, startling Selene, and glared down at the smith. "It'll be ten, because every real silversmith knows never to work with pure silver alone, it's too soft. Falls to pieces under little pressure."

They glared at each other for a while, neither one blinking.

"Fifteen." Said the smith eventually. "And not a penny less."

"Fine." Said Anna. She pulled the necklace out of Selene's resisting hands and dropped it on the table again.

"Come on, Selene. We can find you a much more valuable trinket for a cheaper price than that. I saw this gorgeous ring at Mr. James's stand." Anna grabbed Selene's hand and started to pull her away. Selene opened her mouth to protest when the smith called back, "Wait!"

Both Anna and Selene looked back at him.

"What?" said Anna.

"Ten dollars."

"I saw that ring priced at eight dollars," she said aside to Selene, though loud enough so the smith could hear her.

"I'll give it to you for seven then, but no less." She walked back over to him slowly, rolling her tounge around in her mouth as if she was thinking.

"Well, alright. But only 'cause it looks so nice on my friend. Selene, come here and pay the man."

Selene was frozen for a moment, but then fished the money out of her pocket and handed it to the smith, who took it over to his cash box.

"And don't even think about trying to give us the wrong change, 'cause I'll count it before we leave!" Called Anna after him.

"Here," She said to Selene, "Turn around so I can put it on you."

Selene spun and Anna clasped it onto her neck. The little moon hung just below her collarbone, glittering when she moved.

When the smith came back with her money, Anna counted it, and then got the correct change from him, they set out for the Rocking Horse.

"Did- did you really mean that back there?" asked Selene.

"Nah, silver is strong. It's gold that is really soft. I once had a gold ring my mother gave me, but accidentally stepped on it. Went flat as a pancake. That is real silver." She said nudging the moon with her finger.

"Not that, when you said I was your friend."

Anna glanced over at her. "Of course I meant it. Haven't you any other friends?"

Selene shook her head.

"Huh. That is strange."

"What?"

"That you don't have any friends. Aren't you lonely?"

"Of course not! I have my aunt and Belle." 'And that presence.' But she wasn't going to say that aloud. As if hearing her thoughts, he stirred in the back of her mind.

"And that's all? You should come over and have dinner at my home sometime, then I'll show you what it means to be smothered."

"Really? Your family wouldn't mind?" Asked Selene, her hopes soaring.

"Of course not! The more the merrier! You and your aunt, and Belle too." She added grinning.

They walked into the Rocking Horse arm in arm, then Selene stopped dead. Sitting at the bar, surrounded by a bunch of other young men and women was Brock. She recognized Leann VanTassel sitting on his right side and whispering something in his ear. She looked almost as pretty as Anna. In fact, they looked very much alike except Leann was taller and had shorter hair. The brunet sitting on Brock's other side looked like her sister, Jean. A grumpy looking redhead who was sitting beside Jean shot Anne and Selene a mean glare as if warning them away.

"What's wrong, Selene?"

"Shh…"

Selene pulled Anna over to a table out of the way of the bar and they sat down.

"What is it?" whispered Anna over the table. Selene pointed.

"Brock?" Then a knowing smile came over her face.

"It's not like that, ok?" Said Selene, but she couldn't help smiling too. "In fact it's just the opposite."

"Why would you want to avoid him, Selene? He's cute."

"Perhaps, but he's also selfish, and crude, and hotheaded-"

"Ok, I get it, you don't like him. I'll go get us food then."

Anna got up and walked over to the bar to order from Mr. Rothwell, the innkeeper and bartender. A few of the guys tried to start flirting with her, and the girls gave her mean looks, but she ignored them all. She came back with two glasses of grape juice and a plate of sandwiches.

"I already paid, so don't worry about it."

"Thank you," said Selene, but Anna couldn't answer with her mouth full of sandwich.

Anne only ate two and was done, but Selene ate at least four while Anna watched.

"You live in the forest, don't you?" Asked Anna.

Selene choked on her juice and it took her a moment to reply, "How did you know?"

"When I first laid eyes on you I could tell you were different. I saw you trying to navigate the street without touching anyone. It reminded me of one of the horses that we brought in the other day. He walked along with our horses, but refused to get too close because we were on their backs. Father ended up sending that one back to the herd. Said some animals just weren't meant to be around people."

Anne finished her juice before continuing. "When you stared me down at the tailor's tent, I could see the wild in your eyes. Most of us," She gestured around the tavern, "are like horses in a barn. A few of us are like my father's herd; free, but not really. You are like a true wild horse, or like that stag in your embroidery. A wild creature, looking for a herd of his own."

Selene looked out the window for a moment, taking in all that Anna said, then gulped down the juice and looked back at Anna.

"Thank you."

"For what?" She asked.

"For accepting me and my lifestyle when no one else would."

"Well, I have always longed to be free…" Now it was Anna's turn to look out the window.

"Come with me." Said Selene, causing Anna to look back at her. "Come back with me to my home. We can all live there together. When Marie and Belle get back we can all be our own herd."

Anna shook her head. "I have grown soft from grazing pastures given to me, used to having people worry about predators. I won't be able to adapt to the hardships of your life."

They lapsed into silence before Anna broke it again.

"Hang on, who is Marie?"

"My aunt."

"So who have you been living with if they've been gone?"

"No one."

"What? I won't allow my best friend to live all alone in the woods! You're coming home with me."

Selene looked at her, then stood and hugged her. Best friend. She had a best friend.

'_Mein Unglücklicher wenig ein, to be so lonely and have no one care.'_

They stayed and talked about everything and nothing for awhile, but then the door opened like it had every few minutes and let in the person Selene had wanted to see least.

Mr. Lee looked around then walked over to their table.

"Hey girls."

"Hi Daddy."

"If we want to get home before nightfall, we should leave now."

"Aw, but daddy, can we at least take Selene home?"

"Don't worry about it," said Selene, "It would probably be out of your way."

"Well, we'll at least walk together for awhile."

As they left the tavern, Brock looked up and shot Selene a smile. She pretended not to notice and heard Leann say, "Come on Brock, tell us again how you narrowly evaded that thing in the western woods."

Anna and Mr. Lee stopped to untie two horses from the posts outside the tavern before they walked on.

"So is this Belleza?"

"Yea, she's pretty, huh?" asked Anna, stroking Belleza's neck.

"She is."

When they reached the edge of the forest, Selene stopped.

"Well, this is where our paths part."

Anna hugged Selene. "Promise you'll come visit sometime."

"I promise."

"Good. And bring Belle and your aunt, too."

"Alright. Thank you for everything. Maybe next time you could teach me how to haggle like that, that was incredible."

Anna blushed and they hugged again before splitting apart. Selene turned to enter the forest, but Mr. Lee spoke up.

"You can't mean to go into that forest, Selene. That place is haunted, haven't you heard Brock's tale?"

'So, Brock was spreading bad rumors about the forest?'

"The forest won't hurt me, she attacked Brock because he was somewhere he shouldn't have been, that's all. If you mean her no harm, the forest is good to you." And with that, she turned and walked into the forest.

She looked back just before they were out of sight and sighed.

'_You'll see them again, don't worry.' _said the voice.

'I know, I just don't like going home to an empty house.' Selene replied.

_'As soon as I can, I promise I will find you. And then, meine Süße ein, I'll make sure you never have to be alone again.'_

Her heart skipped a beat and she began to feel uneasy about this presence. She began to run through the forest, running to get home. She felt the presence slip away again, and then she felt even more lonely than before. She ran from the desolation, from all the people. She ran from everything that was now scaring her.

When she finally reached the cave just as the sun was setting, she saw light coming from it. She prepared herself for whoever could be waiting inside, drawing her knife from it's scabbard. She slowly walked inside and looked around. A familiar horse's nicker drew her attention and she walked to the opening in the wall where the stable was and was greeted by Belle.

"And where have you been?" Said a voice from the chair before the fire. Selene whirled around and threw herself into the arms of her aunt.

"I missed you Marie."

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_Yay! She's back! But anyway, thanks to all who've read so far. I think I might wait until someone reviews to post the next one. I don't really care if you say anything, I'd just like to know who a few of my readers are. Till then!_

_**Nox**_


	6. Chapter 5: Loosing One's Head

_Blah blah blah, on we go. Splee: oh come on! at least make an effort to welcome your readers! What if I don't want to? Splee: Quit being lazy! Hey! I just stayed up till 1:00 finishing this, and I'm probably gonna keep working on six tonight too. Splee: Geeze, touchy... Fine, be grumpy, see what I care! Good, I will._

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**Chapter Five**

Loosing One's Head

Marie sat back in the chair, taking in everything Selene had said about the last month. Selene, sitting on the floor before her, watched as she thought it over.

"So, you're sure this girl and her father won't tell anyone about us?"

"Yes. We can trust Anna and Mr. Lee. They won't give us away. In fact, they invited us over for dinner sometime."

"That should be fun."

Selene smiled.

"Now, what was it you found out about that presence again?" asked Marie.

"Well, he's sometimes there and sometimes not, and he doesn't always speak, but I found out two things. He's the spirit of a soldier, or maybe a comander, in an army, and that he most likely doesn't mean any harm."

"How do you know for sure?"

"Well, if he was out to get me, wouldn't he have done it before now?"

"That is true…"

They slipped into silence where the two of them just stared at one another.

"Well?" asked Selene.

"Well what?"

"What was so important to make you leave for a month?"

"Ah, yes. Well, what you said about the council's meeting gave me an idea. When you said the councilmen became unsettled at the mention of the horseman, I formed a plan. Of course, for my plan to work, I needed some supplies that I could not get here."

"And what kind of plan is this?"

"Since the councilmen will most likely decide in Brock's favor, we'll give them a bit of a scare. You will impersonate the headless horseman."

Selene just stared at her, then, "What?"

"Look, it's simple. We'll dress you all up in black, I'll add a little fabric onto your cloak and make it look spooky, we can cover up Belle's white strip by using charcoal, it will work!" Marie said excitedly.

"Yea, but there's one problem. Isn't the headless horseman supposed to be, well, headless?"

"Ah, I hoped you'd ask. I have a solution for that too." She got up and opened the bag she had brought back from wherever it was she had gone and pulled out a shimmering, silver scarf.

"Please don't tell me that's why you were gone for a month," said Selene skeptical.

"But this is no ordinary scarf. Here, go put this on, stand in the moonlight and look at your reflection." Marie said handing Selene the scarf and a mirror that she pulled out of the bag.

Selene sighed then left to do as she said. As she walked outside, she wrapped the scarf around her head until it was completely covered. Strangely enough she could still see perfectly through the fabric. She stepped into the moonlight and turned to look at Marie.

Marie gasped and stared at her wide-eyed. Selene raised an eyebrow at her, but she still stared. Selene then remembered the mirror and held it up so she could see herself, then nearly dropped it.

The space where her head should have been was empty. The part where her neck should have met her head was now just a dark circle, for which she was almost glad. She didn't know what she would have done if she had seen what was inside her neck.

"M- Marie?" she asked shakily, "my head's gone."

"It works marvelous, doesn't it?" she said from just inside the cave.

"How did you make this?"

"Same way I made your cloak only a little different. Your cloak is made of more silk than shadow, but this scarf is more moonlight than silk."

Selene just stared at her aunt, who couldn't tell.

"So the scarf disappears in the moonlight?"

"Yes, so be careful to stay beneath the moon wile using it."

Selene unwrapped the scarf from her head, marveling as it made her hands disappear too. She walked back into the cave and watched it appear again.

"Oh, and here." Said Marie going back to her bag. "Something else to help you fit the part."

Out of the bag she pulled a long knife sheathed in a black scabbard. She handed it to Selene who looked it over more closely. The hilt was silver and engraved with black swirls and patterns. She pulled the blade from the scabbard and revealed the double-sided edge.

"Wow, Marie. Isn't this a little much for just a prop?"

"Well, the smith was selling it cheap. He said there was a curse on it, but I didn't feel anything." Selene got the feeling Marie wasn't telling the whole truth, but she let it go. After all, she had just brought her two extremly valuable gifts. If Marie didn't want to talk, Selene wouldn't push her, at least not tonight.

Selene placed the blade next to her bow and arrows then straightened and stroked the buck's pelt. She hurriedly undressed then slid her nightgown over her head.

She hugged Marie who was just about to get in her bed. "Goodnight, Marie. I'm glad you're home."

She hugged back. "Thank you, Selene. I am glad to be home."

Selene woke the next morning to the hiss of the kettle boiling water. She sat up and stretched then rolled out of her sheets and got up. Marie was by the hearth leaning over two steaming mugs of tea. She was already dressed and it looked like she had already bathed too. Selene walked over and took one of the mugs.

"Good morning." Said Marie, ever the morning person.

"Thanks." Selene grumbled, not exactly awake yet.

"The hens are back. I went out and gathered up what eggs I could find if you want to make breakfast."

Selene took the disguized comand and fried the four eggs in the old skillet over the fire while Marie watched and sipped her tea. Then when the eggs were done Selene poured them onto the two waiting plated that Marie had fetched and the two of them ate side by side.

When she was finished, Selene grabbed a dress and her cloak then headed out to the stream to bathe, leaving Marie to wash the dishes. 'After all, it was I who made breakfast, so she gets to wash dishes. Serves her right.'

After her bath, Selene went about her usual chores, like getting water, collecting new herbs and marking down where she found them on Marie's little chart of the forest, which she also had to update almost daily. Selene also had to take Belle out to graze; a task she hadn't had to do in awhile. She decided to go visit Anna while she was at it.

She Had put the bridal on Belle, grabbed the horse's halter and lead rope, and was just walking out the door when Marie caught up with her.

"And where are you going?"

"I was going to go take Belle out to the meadow."

"She doesn't need a bridal for that."

"Well the meadow we're going to go to is rather far away, so I thought I'd just speed things up a little."

"Huh," muttered Marie, "And would this meadow happen to be on the Lee's property?"

"Aw Marie, I was just going to say hi. I finally have a friend my own age!"

Selene looked down, doing her best impression of a sad child. She glanced up at Marie who sighed.

"Alright, but I want that horse home and brushed by sundown."

Selene was gone after Marie had said 'Alright.'

Selene led Belle over to a tree to use as a mounting block and settled herself on Belle's back. After making sure she was balanced, she clucked to the mare and they walked off around the cliff.

When the trees began to thin out, Belle tossed her head and broke into a gallop. Selene grabbed onto her mane in order to stay astride the black mare. At first Selene clung to the horse's mane for dear life, but then she got used to the rhythm of Belle's stride and moved along with her.

Selene almost wished Belle would go faster but was worried about hitting the trees or Belle stumbling and killing them both.

Just as the forest's southern border came into view, the presence woke in her mind and she felt his restlessness. She recalled his words the day before and grew wary, but couldn't waste much of her attention on him, she was too busy trying to keep Belle between her and the ground. He silently urged her to bend closer to the mare's neck and kick her into a faster run. She leaned forward, but didn't have the heart to kick Belle. Instead she pressed her heels into the mare's belly a little and Belle tossed her head then ran faster.

They shot out of the trees like a bullet. Selene was glad they were no longer in the forest where Belle could have broken her leg at this speed. Now they were on the land Anna's father used for his horses. She could almost see the heard in the distance.

'This is amazing!' Selene thought. The wind was blowing the hair out of her face and throwing her cloak out behind her. She looked over Belle's shoulder and the sight on her sharp hooves pounding the ground rushing by made her dizzy. She focused on the mare's black ears until she no longer felt like she was going to fall off. It felt like they were flying over the ground.

She spread her arms wide like wings and laughed out loud. The presence laughed along with her. She could almost feel his booming laugh resonate within her chest. She felt the same longing restlessness from him that she had before.

When Belle started to slow a little as she began to tire out, Selene felt his disappointment.

"Did you once have a horse?" she asked quietly aloud.

"_Ja"_ he replied,_ "He was my partner. He's still with me, but we are too weak to wander far from our sanctuary. After so long it is a sanctuary no longer, but hölle."_

Selene didn't know what 'hölle' meant, but by the sound of it nothing good.

"I'm sorry…" she mumbled. What would it feel like to be imprisoned forever? She shuddered just thinking about it.

_'Don't worry over me, it is my job to worry about you.'_

"What do you mean?"

He hesitated, then said _'I must go for now. I have used up all my energy. I promise I will get stronger and then I will be able to talk longer with you. Auf Wiedersehen für jetzt, meine Süße ein.' _Something soft then brushed against her cheek sending shivers down her spine.

"Wait!" She shouted looking around. But it was too late, he was gone.

She felt herself start to slide from Belle's back and grabbed at her black mane and pull herself upright again.

'What was that?' she thought and rubbed her cheek. She could still feel the odd sensation making her skin tingle.

She remembered to concentrate on Belle and came back out of her thoughts just in time to lean forward as Belle jogged up a hill. Belle stopped abruptly at the top to keep from running into a brown mare who was grazing right there.

"Selene!" cried Anna from somewhere below the brown mare. Selene looked around Belle's neck and spotted her lying on the grass.

"Hi Anna," said Selene smiling.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd come today."

"I'm sorry, did I disturb you? I could just go back home…"

"No! I just wasn't expecting you. Come on down here with me. I was just watching the herd."

Selene jumped down off Belle as a neigh came from a herd of horses not too far away. Almost half of them had looked up at the arrival of the new horse, but the rest were still grazing. Then more put their heads down to eat the grass.

Selene unstrapped Belle's bridal and took the bit out of her mouth then slid the halter over Belle's nose and let her graze. Selene lay down next to Anna but kept a hold of Belle's lead rope.

"So is this Belle?" asked Anna after a moment.

"Yes," answered Selene.

"Hmm," murmured Anna rolling over to get a better look at Belle. "She could be half andalusian, maybe less. Her mane and tail look like Belleza's, and her face resembles Gila's, but her body looks too muscular to be an andalusian. And look, she's built a lot like Boomer; he's a thoroughbred. My father bought him from some old man who couldn't feed him anymore."

"So what is she?" asked Selene looking at Belle too.

"She's probably a mix between a few different types. Mostly thoroughbred and andalusian though. But whatever she is, she's very pretty."

One of the horses called up to them from the small valley and both mares and women looked up. A white horse was jogging up to them and puffing himself up. Belle nickered to him and he stopped, but then neighed again, this time with a different quality to his voice. Anna laughed and Selene looked at her quizzically.

"He thought Belle was another stallion before, but now he's trying to get her to join his herd."

At the sound of humans the stallion stopped, but he didn't turn away.

"Go on back to your herd, Ivory. She doesn't belong to you, she's Selene's," Anna shouted down to him.

He turned and ran back to the other horses, kicking up dirt as he fled. The other horses looked up when he joined them again, but then went back to the more important matter of eating.

"That was Regal Ivory. You remember, I told you about him the other day."

"Yes, I remember."

Selene rested her head on the grass and stared up at the clouds. She closed her eyes and sighed contentedly. Everything was perfect. It was a wonderful day, she was with good company, and even the upcoming council meeting couldn't dampen her spirits. If only for a moment, life was good.

Selene reached the cave just before sunset. Marie was waiting for her at the entrance looking impatient.

"Sorry Marie. Anna had packed a big lunch so we split it and I didn't want to run all the way back here with a full stomach."

"Enough excuses. Just get changed into something dark and saddle Belle. We have to find out what the council are going to do, and you can't be late. I went to town today and heard they were starting when the stars came out, so you don't have time to dawdle. Now move!"

In five minutes Selene was back on Belle wearing a clean black dress and headed for the town at a gallop.

She tied Belle to the same spot as last time and crept around the building. There were a few councilmen waiting outside the courtroom, but no one entered until they were all there.

Selene slid in the door silently and creeped to the room where the council held their meetings. She opened the door just a crack to peer inside. When she was sure the room was empty she slid inside and climbed into the wardrobe.

After what seemed like hours, the door opened and she heard grumbling men walk in and sit in the many chairs.

"Now, first thing's first. Last meeting…"

She listened to him drone on about the matters of Sleepy Hollow, but she wasn't really paying attention. She was thinking about the day and the fun she'd had with Anna and the horses. They had actually gone up close to the herd, but only one or two horses came up to them. Brock's booming voice brought her out of her daydream.

"Now that that's all settled, What are we going to do with the land when the forest is gone next week?"

Selene covered her mouth to keep from gasping. 'They already picked a date?! Damn, this is serious!' She crept closer to the crack in the doors to listen to the rest of their conversation.

"Come now gentlemen, surely one of you has an idea?" asked Brock.

"Why don't we just leave it standing?" asked James VanBrunt, "we don't even know what to do with it yet."

"Since no one else has any ideas," continued Brock, ignoring VanBrunt, "I think we should expand the town."

There was a moment of silence, then, "And how do you plan to accomplish this task?" asked VanTassel.

"Simple. We'll sell the land cheap enough so that more people will come and build their homes on it and farm it. Some of them will open up stores and shops. Everyone will make more money this way and Sleepy Hollow will be sleepy no longer." He laughed at his own joke and this time Selene felt hatred flowing through her that wasn't from the spirit that possessed her.

"And what of the evil spirits that live there? Do we set them loose on the town?" asked VanBrunt accusingly, "what of the spirit you claimed to have nearly hunted down?"

'Ah, so that was his story. I thought he'd do something to make it look like he was the hero instead of him running away.' Selene would have grinned if they had not been discussing the fate of her home.

Brock hesitated then replied, "Like you just said, it ran away. They are scared of us! What have we to fear? They only come out at night because that's when we sleep, they don't have to run into us! They live in the forest because we don't! If we destroy the forest, they will run farther away and leave us alone."

'Uh oh…'

The rest of the council murmured in agreement, all except for VanBrunt, but he was out voted.

"It's settled then. In two days, the forest comes down."

* * *

_Splee: Dun dun! -dramatic music plays- Go away Splee! leave my readers alone! Splee: Sure, now you want them. What happened at the begining of the chapter? Just shut up and go away. Splee: Fine,but don't say I didn't warn you! You didn't. Splee: I said not to say that!-grumble- just go. Splee: Bye! Oh! And next time the Hessian finaly -gets cut off- -gags Splee and ties her to a chair- Bye all!_

_**Nox** (-muffled- and Splee)_


	7. Chapter 6: The Voice Gains a Body

_Chapter six! -people cheer- Splee: Yay! This is the one where the Hessian- -ties and gags her again- Shut up! On with the show!_**

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**

**Chapter Six**

The Voice Gains a Body

Selene stood outside the cave and looked up at the moon. She was dressed in her hunting outfit, but the only weapon she had was the short sword Marie had gotten her. She had attached it to her belt along with her hunting knife. Her cloak was resting on her shoulders, but now it looked older and worn just like Marie promised. She could feel the scarf on her neck, cool and smooth as water, but she couldn't see it or her shoulders where it rested. She looked at the black gloves Marie had given her then slid them over her hands. The material felt out of place between her fingers.

A moment later Marie came out of the cave leading Belle. There was an old saddle strapped onto Belle's back over a worn saddlecloth. Her bridal was polished and a few bits of slivery metal had been attached to it and the saddle. The thin white stripe that had gone directly down the center of her nose was gone, coated with a black paste Marie had come up with.

Selene smiled at Marie and went to take Belle's reigns from her.

"Are you okay?" Marie asked under Belle's neck.

"Yea, I'll be fine," reassured Selene, but she felt far from fine.

"I know you're nervous, but if worse comes to worse, Belle can take you farther than their horses can. She is used to these woods and she is faster than any horse I've ever seen."

Selene smiled over Belle's neck to her aunt in what she hoped was a confident way. Truth was, she wasn't that nervous of going to scare off the loggers who were going to begin cutting down the trees tonight, although it had been on her mind. The other morning, She had been worrying over the loggers when the spirit/presence came back. He nearly panicked (her emotions leaking into him she supposed) and then asked her when they were starting. She had told him about Brock's plan of working in the dark to intrude upon the dark spirits' time and the spirit said something in whatever language it was he spoke. She told Marie one of the words he'd said once and she was almost sure it was German, but that's neither here nor there. The spirit then swore to her he would protect the forest, and faded from her mind. She hadn't heard from him since. 'To be honest, I almost miss him. I'm kind of lonely without him there.'

"Come on," said Marie breaking Selene out of her anxiety for a moment, "I'll walk you part of the way." Selene took Belle's reins and the three of them set off toward the campsite the loggers had set up near the village.

When the trees began to thicken, Marie stopped.

"This is as far as I dare go. Any more and I'll be caught with you. Remember to keep that scarf around your head, and stay in the moonlight."

"Okay Marie," Selene said as she began to wrap the scarf around her head. When she finished she looked down at Marie who stared up at the space where her head was suppose to be. Marie shuddered, then drew her finger through the air in front of Selene while muttering some words.

"Good luck, Selene." She said and walked away.

'Wow, she must be expecting trouble otherwise she wouldn't have gone so far as to ward me. I wonder what she's scared of.'

Selene nudged Belle foreword out of the forest so they could jog along the forest while staying in the moonlight. When she reached the town's outpost she kicked Belle into a gallop. They raced past Sleepy Hollow and towards the glow of campfire and the sound of axes hacking into wood.

'Oh no! They've already started!'

Selene bent lower and kicked Belle's sides, urging her on. She snorted, unused to this kind of harsh treatment. That got a sentry's attention and he shouted at Selene to halt. Of course, she didn't and a moment later the sentry shouted in horror. 'I guess he saw me, or didn't see me.' She thought.

The men looked up from their work just in time to see Selene draw her sword.

They all yelled too and scattered. Selene nearly laughed but remembered in time that a woman's laugh would sound strange coming from the headless horseman. She raised her sword higher and plunged among the loggers. She swiped at one man who ducked causing the sword to whoosh over his head, but Selene had never meant to hit him anyway. She couldn't kill anyone!

Suddenly one of the men was before her holding a sword bigger than hers. She yanked her rains away from him and Belle turned away. He shouted at her.

"Coward! Fight me like a man!"

'Uh oh, Marie didn't say anything about this…'

"Ha! See? Just like Mr. Smith said! They're scared of us!"

The other men stopped running and grabbed whatever they could reach to fight with.

'I just had to pick a fight with really strong men wielding axes…' thought Selene beginning to back Belle up as the loggers advanced.

Belle stumbled and Selene grabbed onto the saddle to stay on her back just as a fierce breeze picked up and blew the clouds in front of the moon, blocking its light.

'This just isn't my night…' Selene thought as the loggers gasped. The breeze picked up again and the scarf almost slipped away from her, but Selene made a wild lunge for it and caught it in her fingertips.

"Why look! It's a woman!" The other men grumbled threats. "She's trying to stop us!" "She's a witch!"

Selene stuffed the scarf into her cloak and gripped the sword tighter.

"Dammit!" She cursed under her breath. They would probably kill her here and now. Sure enough, the sentry returned with a shotgun. Selene pulled Belle around to run into the forest, but the men had cut off her escape route. She twisted around in the saddle to see if they had left any way open, but she was trapped.

The first logger stepped forward. "Who are you, woman? Tell us, and we might spare you a little pain." The others laughed cruelly. Apparently this logger was their leader.

She sat straighter on Belle's back and stared stonily down at them. She would not give them the satisfaction of obeying. If they meant to hurt her, she would not go down without a fight.

"Answer woman!" the leader logger shouted again, and once more she only stared down at him. She could see him start to shake slightly and she grinned mockingly. His face began to redden and a vein appeared in his forehead. Apparently, he was not used to his orders being ignored. His face was taking on the color of one of those tomatoes Marie sometimes brings back when she goes out for jobs.

He turned and scanned the small crowd until he spotted the sentry still holding the gun. "You! Lookout! Here's your chance to teach us why we hired you. Shoot the witch!" He turned back to Selene and sneered at her. "Last chance, witch. Will you talk?"

Instead of answering, she leaned over Belle's shoulder and spit at him. He jumped back and snarled at her. "Do it, lookout!"

"B- but sir, she's only a woman," argued the sentry ruefully.

"I don't care if she's a small girl or an old man! If I give an order, You Follow!" he screamed the last two words.

The camp fell silent, and over the crackle of the fires, pounding hoof beats could be heard coming from the forest and approaching fast. One or two of the men closest to the forest looked back, but the others resumed their cries for her blood. Belle began to prance in place and toss her head.

"Belle?" Selene asked quietly as she stroked Belle's neck. But the mare wouldn't be calmed. She pranced forward, then backed up and turned so fast Selene nearly fell off. Selene quickly re-sheathed her blade and grabbed onto Belle's rains with both hands. Belle hadn't acted like this before, even when the men threatened them. "Belle, what is it?"

This time the lead logger heard her. "Belle? Ah, the horse. Well come here Belle!" and with that he grabbed for her rains, but she neighed loudly and jerked her head up and the rest of her body followed, stretching into a rear where she pawed the air. Selene, caught off guard by Belle's very un mare-like behavior, was thrown from her back and landed at the feet of the loggers who were behind her. "Belle!" she shouted, but the mare rolled her eyes in fright and neighed before taking off into the night.

Selene hurriedly scrambled away from the loggers and stood up again. It was harder to feel less afraid when she was no longer seated taller than the men trying to kill her. She hoped Belle would find her way home, but right now she was more concerned with staying alive to look for her in the morning. She stood up to her full height which was nearly taller than most of the men there, hoping she looked more threatening than she felt.

Now the hoof beats were audible to everyone and half of them looked around, trying to find their source, the lead logger among them.

"What is this, witch? One of your little demon slaves?" he sneered, but his red face paled slightly.

The hoof beats grew louder still, pounding in her chest and matching the rhythm of her heart. Selene began to get even more scared. Whatever was coming couldn't be human.

The lead logger ignored it and began yelling at the sentry again. Selene took her attention from the thing and on the more threatening threat of the gun in the sentry's hands.

"Whhat are you waiting for? Shoot her before her monster comes!" yelled the logger. "That's what you're paid for! If I want advise on what's right and wrong, I'm not gonna' ask the likes of you! Are you even listening to me?!"

The sentry wasn't listening. He was looking, as were the rest of the loggers, at the man who had just rode out of the forest.

The man's horse was huge, the biggest horse Selene had ever seen. It was tacked in a very old style of bridal, but it looked almost brand new. The saddle and saddle pad were in the same condition. The horse's red eyes were unnerving. It pawed the ground and snorted at the men closest to it, as if it were about to attack them.

The man sitting astride him took Selene's breath away. He wore Black armor rimmed in strange silver markings and a cape that billowed behind him in the breeze. Large gauntlets were gripping the black stallion's rains, for she knew just by the way he acted that he was a stallion. She recognized that challenging pose from earlier that day when Anna's horse Regal Ivory charged at Belle before he knew she was a mare. The man's raven hair was tousled from riding fast through the forest and Selene could spot a leaf entangled in the long strands. His handsome, well defined face was arranged in an expression of disbelief. But it was his eyes that had Selene mesmerized. His startlingly blue eyes had caught hers as soon as she looked his way. She felt something strange stir inside her, something calling for him.

She heard his voice almost echoed around the now silent campsite,** "**Das darf doch wohl nicht warhr sein…"

With a jolt she realized she recognized his voice. He was the presence who had been invading her mind! 'He's finally come for me!' she thought with horror.

Selene tore her eyes away from him and began to try and ran at the men blocking her path. A gunshot echoed around the campsite and Selene stopped dead. She fell to her knees and clutched her shoulder where an iron ball had pierced her and imbedded itself within her flesh.

Behind her the man on his horse cried out, "Luna!"

She clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut to try and master the pain. She heard shouts from behind her and the shing of a blade emerging from its sheath. A moment later there was a thwack and the thump of a body falling.

Selene looked behind her just in time to see the man slice off one of the loggers' heads. Another headless body was behind him along with its head. After that most of the men fled, but a few stuck around to fight. They never stood a chance.

The sentry aimed the gun at the man and fired. The man dropped from the monster of a horse who neighed and reared up like Belle had before. The men watching and fighting began to advance, unsure of whether or not he was dead. They stayed away from the stallion and the lead logger leaned over the man's body.

"I think he's-" Before he could finish the sentence the man on the ground opened his eyes and ran the bloody sword through the logger's neck.

The other loggers scrambled away as the man got up and his sword slid free of the logger's body. He turned to the sentry next who yelled and dropped his gun to run away. The man smiled, revealing the sharpened teeth in his mouth. The sentry tripped then scrambled to get to his feet. He only got as far as his knees. The man had knelt behind him and driven his sword through the sentry's chest. The sentry choked and died, slumping forward. The man stood again and shook his sword free of the sentry, then wiped the blade off on the sentry's shirt.

He sheathed the sword and looked over at Selene with a joyful expression, making his face look demonic.

Selene scrambled to the edge of the forest where she was violently sick. Whether it was from witnessing several murders or from the bullet in her shoulder, she wasn't sure.

When she was done she knelt on her hands and knees breathing harshly, hoping the man would just go away. She kept the weight off her right arm but it still hurt. She noticed there was a trickle of blood running down her arm and was surprised it wasn't worse.

Suddenly she was scooped up into the arms of the very person she had wished would leave. He was holding her carefully, making sure he wasn't touching her right shoulder. She couldn't help herself and looked up into his eyes again to find that he was staring down at her. Fear coursed through her and she began to struggle to escape him, but he held on. He carried her over to the stallion who looked up at her and Selene stopped moving, worried the horse would bite her. The stallion nickered and nudged her with his nose, surprising Selene and making the man laugh. His chest vibrated, sending tingles along Selene's body.

"I knew it was you!" he said, and now she knew it was the voice from her mind.

"Wh- what do you mean?" she stuttered, hoping he put her down.

"Luna! Don't you recognize me?"

"I- I'm not Luna."

"Of course you are! You look exactly like Luna, you sound just like her, and Daredevil recognizes you! Who else could you be?" he laughed.

"My name is Selene." She said, trying to banish her fear.

"Selene?" he asked, his face falling.

"Yes. I have no idea who you are talking about."

He thought for a moment, then muttered, "Of course, how long have I been gone?"

"Well, I don't know. I don't know who you are."

"I am General Jaegar Schwarzritter," he said with a hint of pride to his voice.

"Never heard of you." 'I knew he was a commander of some sort,' thought Selene.

"If you've grown up in Sleepy Hollow then you know who I am, you just don't know my name."

"I don't understand." Said Selene confusedly.

"I would have thought I'd already given you a good hint." He said gesturing to the headless body behind him.

Selene gaped at him. "You- you can't be…"

"I am. Or was anyway."

"But that was at least twenty years ago."

"Ah. I could have sworn it was longer."

He grinned at her and she looked away. 'He's too close! Why can't he put me down?' Selene heard shouts in the distance and lights appeared in the village.

"We should go somewhere else, then I'll see to your wound. But it's not safe here."

He set Selene down on her feet much to her relief and tapped Daredevil's shoulder. The huge horse sank to his knees much to Selene's amazement. She ran her hand along Daredevil's sleek neck and was about to climb on when a pair of gloved hands slid around her middle and lifted her on in front of the saddle. She watched as he climbed on behind her.

"Jaegar…" Selene muttered.

"Hmm?"

"So the Headless Horseman's name is Jaegar."

Jaegar grinned and wrapped one of his arms around her.

"Ja."

He kicked Daredevil and they rode off into the shelter of the forest.

* * *

_I hoped you liked it! I decided not to put it off any longer and finaly re-introduced The Hessian, or Jaegar as I've named him. Splee: -tied and gaged-_

_**Nox**_


	8. Chapter 7: Hunt from a Different Perspec

_Ha Ha! FINALLY! It took me forever, but I WROTE IT! IN YOUR FACE SQUEE! Squee: Hey, that hurts my feelings... Oh, really? I'm sorry Squee... Squee: Leave me alone. You've done enough dammage. What if I made it up to you? Squee: Really? How so? Well... How about I let you welcome my readers to chapter seven? Squee: Really?! You would let me? Sure, knock yourself out. Squee:Yay! Here goes: -clears throat- Welcome back faithful readers and fellow fans. Sit back and enjoy Chapter Seven of **Selene**, Hunt from a Different Perspective. Wow, that was pretty good Squee. Squee:Thanks. Maybe I could welcome for the rest of the chapters from now on, huh? I only gave you a complement, don't push your luck Squee._

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Chapter Seven

Hunt from a Different Perspective

In the wild ride through the forest Selene was glad Jaegar was holding onto her, because without him she would have fallen and gone beneath Daredevil's hooves, a place she desperately did not want to be.

"Halten," he said as he leaned back and pulled back on the reigns.

He dismounted then turned to lift Selene off, but she had climbed down on her own, not wanting to give him an excuse to hold her again. She scratched Daredevil's shoulder as Jaegar walked around him to stand behind her.

"He likes that," he murmured sensuously, leaning closer to her ear. Selene stopped scratching Daredevil who looked at her grumpily.

She looked over her shoulder at Jaegar when she felt him move away and was shocked to find him removing the breastplate of his armor. She didn't like the little lurch that came from the pit of her stomach at the sight of him removing his armor.

"Um," Selene struggled to find an excuse to get away. "I should get home. Marie will be missing me."

"Sit down," he commanded.

"What?" asked Selene, unused to being ordered around.

"What, you don't speak English? Sitzen!"

She stepped away from Daredevil and sat down on the forest floor. The stallion looked even bigger from the ground. Jaegar knelt down behind her so that his knees were on either side of her. 'Way too close!' She tensed up and began to feel her face heat.

He reached around to untie the cloak from her shoulders and she saw he had removed his gauntlets. Like his teeth, his fingernails were sharpened into points, but somehow he managed not to scratch her as he untied the knot.

"Wh- what are you doing?" asked Selene shakily.

"You seem to have a bullet in your shoulder, so I'm taking it out," he answered.

"Oh."

He pulled the cloak off her gently so as not to brush her wound, but it still stung a little. He placed it in her lap and she saw a dark stain on the shoulder.

"Is it bad?" she asked fearful. She couldn't be out of commission for very long. Marie was a talented witch and could summon a spirit from the afterlife as easily as the tailor Cavallo mended a torn shirt, but she was helpless when it came to the important things like hunting or cooking.

"I need to see the wound before I can judge it," he replied and began to pull her shirt up.

"Stop!" She grabbed at her shirt and held it down blushing. 'What is he doing?!'

"How can I see it if your shirt is in the way?" he asked irritated.

"It's- it's not right! I can't take off my shirt in front of you!"

"Why not?" he asked tersely.

"Be- because! I'm a woman and you're- well…"

"A man?" he supplied, a hint of amusement in his voice at her embarrassment.

"Yes," she sighed.

"So? I used to do this for Luna, and sometimes she didn't have a wound."

Jaegar grinned wolfishly as Selene turned even redder. Then before she could regain her composure he pulled the shirt off over her head. Selene yelped as the shirt rubbed against her wound, then gasped and used her cloak to cover herself, blushing madder than ever.

"Hey, that hurt."

"If you just held still, it wouldn't have."

Then she felt one of his hands on her bare shoulder and she shut up. He gently pushed her forward slightly to get a better look at her wound. 'This is too intimate!' she panicked. She took a deep breath, 'Now calm down,' she chided herself, 'this is impersonal. He's just trying to help.' She took another deep breath and tried to relax to ease up the pain in her shoulder.

But she had her doubts whether or not he was being indifferent about it. His other hand had rested on her other shoulder, but had somehow migrated up to her neck where he held her head aside. Anywhere he touched left a tingly trail that almost made her shiver. 'What is he doing to me?'

"I can see the bullet," he said after a moment. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she thought his voice was a little husky.

"Is that good or bad?" Selene asked.

"Good. And bad. I can get it out with my nails or a knife if you have one, but it will hurt and that will make it bleed more. You've already lost a lot of blood…"

She gulped as he thought for a moment.

"Here, let me try something else."

"Wha-" she was cut off by a gasp as she felt his mouth on her shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She shouted, her voice cracking slightly. She tried to stand, but his arms circled around her waist and held her to him.

"Taking care of your wound. Now hold still." He had only lifted his head a little so she could feel his warm breath on her torn skin, making her shiver. His tongue and lips replaced his breath again and her heart nearly stopped beating.

It felt like heat was spreading from her shoulder into her chest depriving her of air and causing her breath to quicken and her heartbeat to race. The steady warmth was sluggishly dripping from the area around her hear to her belly and even lower. She could hardly feel the pain in her shoulder anymore; it was overwhelmed by the scorching of her insides.

When she felt Jaegar grin against her skin she knew he must hear her panting. Her face began to burn and she knew she must be blushing, and she was glad that at least he couldn't see that. She tried to concentrate on anything but his mouth, but then she realized his arms were holding her flush against him so that she could feel the heat from his body. The shirt he wore now wasn't very thick, probably so he didn't get too hot in all that armor, but it wasn't helping Selene right then. She could feel every muscle of his chest as it rose and fell, alternating breathing with the lazy strokes of his tongue that were setting her aflame. Selene bit her lip, praying he was almost done.

She felt she felt pressure on the hole in her shoulder and the pain returned, but not as intense as it was before. Then, there was a strange sensation as the bullet slowly popped out of her shoulder. She glanced back just in tome to see Jaegar spit the shiny iron ball onto the grass, then tied a white handkerchief around the wound.

"There," he murmured, "that wasn't so hard, now was it?"

She continued to look back at him. His lips were smeared with blood. Her blood. Those lips suddenly quirked upward in a grin and Selene realized she'd been staring at him. She turned away blushing and tried to stand up. This time he let his arms slide off her, but in their wake he left flames dancing across her skin.

She turned and looked down at him, still clutching the cloak to hide herself.

"Thank you. You saved me a great deal of pain and trouble," Selene said briskly, hoping to keep this as apathetic as she could, which was rather hard due to the fact she was half naked and Jaegar was giving her a look that could have melted the flesh from her bones.

Jaegar grabbed Selene's shirt from beside him then bent forward to grab the bullet from where he'd spit it, but he froze about halfway and grunted in pain.

"Are you ok?" Selene asked worried. Then she remembered him falling from Daredevil.

"Oh! You got shot!" She knelt down in front of him again. "Where?"

He gingerly straightened up and met his supernatural blue eyes with her bright green ones.

"I've received worse wounds from past wars. This is nothing for you to worry about," he said with a straight face.

"Just be quiet and let me see," Selene demanded. Jaegar raised an eyebrow at her. Selene was also surprised. Where had that come from?

Jaegar seemed to think the same thing.

"I do not take orders from anyone, Fräulein. I told you, I am-" he stopped and grimaced when she pushed on his chest.

"I thought so. Take off the cloak and shirt," she replied grinning.

Jaegar snarled at her. "I am fine," he emphasized each word.

Selene huffed at him and began to untie his cloak. Jaegar began to reach up to grab her hands, then seemed to change his mind and lower them again.

Selene pushed the cloak off his shoulders and gasped. The shoulder of his shirt was soaked with blood as well as the side of his neck. She moved his shirt aside and saw a hole blown through him just above his collarbone.

"Wow, I'm surprised you can even move! Take off your shirt and let me see better."

He glared at her and held a steely silence.

"Oh come on! Please? It's for your own good."

He looked at her for a moment then, to her surprise, he complied and pulled the shirt off, being careful of his shoulder.

"Thank you." Selene took out the handkerchief that a month ago Marie had packed her a lunch in. She had carried it around with her while Marie was away, but now had just out of habit. She began to wipe the blood off his neck and shoulder. Jaegar didn't say anything, but she felt him stiffen.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

Jaegar began to lean away from her so she placed her other hand on the un-injured side of his neck to hold him still, forgetting that the cloak she was holding up would fall. After that he stopped fidgeting. When the handkerchief became too saturated with blood, she wrung it out and then continued. Finally she finished and could see the actual wound much better. She pulled out from her pocket a little cloth ball and untied it, revealing some dried herbs.

"This is gonna sting a little," she said to warn him.

Selene carefully began to pack his wound with the herbs and she felt a tremor race through him. She sighed and sat back when she was done, then realized she hadn't seen or felt a bullet in him. She rose up a little higher on her knees to look over his shoulder and saw an equally nasty exit would on his back. She gasped.

"Geze, you really know how to get shot, don't you?"

"It's not like I had a choice!" he snapped.

Selene moved to his back and began cleaning that off as well, then packed the exit wound with the herbs as well.

"There. Good as new," she stated, feeling proud of herself.

He looked back at her just as she remembered that he was shirtless and she was only wearing a bra. She froze then looked franticly around for her shirt. Jaegar grinned and offered her the black shirt still in his hands.

"Forget something?"

"Thanks," she said almost sarcastically.

She snatched it from him then stood and put it on. When the dark fabric uncovered her eyes, she saw Jaegar staring at her. She looked down, pulling down her shirt and feeling her face burn. She snatched her cloak off the ground but froze when she straitened up again.

Jaegar had stood also and was putting his shirt on as well. For a brief moment, Selene got a clear view of his bare chest, his muscles flowing beneath his skin as his arms stretched over his head. Soon he was pulling the shirt down and staring back at her again. She met his eyes and for a brief moment she saw some powerful, dark emotion race through his crystal blue eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

Selene turned and grabbed her cloak off the ground, using it as an excuse to hide the blush that was most likely creeping across her face. She swung the cloak onto her shoulders just as Jaegar began slowly walking towards her again.

Selene backed away hurriedly. She felt like he was some great cat like the ones Marie had shown her in books; and Selene was a wounded doe without a herd to protect her. She suddenly felt her back hit something firm but soft and she realized she had walked into Daredevil. She watched Jaegar stop only inches from her; unable to look up into his face and see that hungry look in his eyes again.

"Look at me Luna," he commanded, his voice a low tenor that made her heart nearly stop.

"I'm not Luna!" Selene shouted finding her courage.

"You were once," he mumbled, his face inches from hers so she had no choice but to look into those startlingly blue eyes.

"What do you mean?" Selene asked, ashamed when she heard her voice tremble. She pushed on his chest, hoping he'd move. He didn't.

"You're her reincarnation. In one of your past lives, you were Luna," he said bluntly.

"H- how would you know?" she stuttered.

"I can tell. You look too much like her, smell too much like her, even act like her a little. You taste the same."

Jaegar was so close their faces were almost touching. His eyes took up her whole field of vision and consumed her thoughts. She could see a deep hunger in those orbs of sapphire and just below that a lust for blood. She felt like she was drowning in those bright pools of blue. Then an emotion flashed though those eyes that shot a jolt of fear down to her stomach like a thunderbolt.

"You're insane!" Selene burst out, ducking beneath Daredevil and coming out on his other side.

"I've never met this Luna woman before! I've never met you before! Leave me alone!"

Selene turned and fled. She ran down a path she knew would take her to the cliff and her home. A second later she heard what was most likely a swear word come from the clearing she had left behind. Selene silently cheered until she heard hoof beats start following her.

Selene ran faster, a million 'if only' thoughts rushing through her head.

'If only I had Belle.'

Selene glanced behind her to see Jaegar on Daredevil riding not far behind her.

'If only I had held on better when Belle reared up. She could have taken me away too.'

Selene looked back ahead along the path where she saw a curve heading right.

'If only I had told Marie more about Jaegar when he was still just a presence in my mind! She would have known what to do!'

She recognized this path, the brave town's people used it as a short cut to Tarry town.

'_If only the council had let the forest be!'_

Selene gave Jaegar a fleeting look before she ducked beneath the branches and fought her way out onto another less traveled path. Behind her there was a neigh and a curse.

'If only Brock had never caught me outside the courthouse.'

She slowed down after a little while, but never stopped, too worried he would catch up with her.

'If only Brock had never kissed me.'

She stopped short when she came to a hill, the same hill she had shot the white buck on.

'If only I had never accepted Jaegar into my mind.'

She walked up the hill then turned when she heard crashing coming from the place where she had emerged onto the path.

'If only I could catch my breath.'

Daredevil's great black head broke free of the trees, followed by the rest of the horse with Jaegar still astride him.

'If only my muscles weren't screaming.'

Selene started up the hill, but a tree root caught on her boot and she smacked into the ground.

'If only the forest hadn't betrayed me.'

She put her arms beneath herself and pushed, but a pang in her shoulder made her burst out in a cold sweat and fall again.

'If only I could get up.'

She clutched her shoulder and looked back to see Daredevil jogging towards her.

'If only my shoulder didn't hurt.'

Jaegar wasn't worried about her running off again. He knew she was worn out. He knew she was injured. He knew the hunt was over, and so did she.

'If only he'd stayed in Hell.'

She started into his eyes, those mesmerizing eyes. If they were the windows to the soul like Marie had once said, than Jaegar's soul was deep, irresistible, and incredibly beautiful.

'If only I could escape his eyes.'

He was only feet from her now, staring down into her eyes and holding her captive. Suddenly Daredevil began to fidget like Belle had done; prancing backward and forward. Jaegar looked up toward the top of the hill and cursed. Selene followed his gaze, but all she could see were trees and a quickly lightening sky.

"I will return for you, Fraulein. Ich schwöre es."

And with that he turned Daredevil and they galloped off. Daredevil's hoof beats began to grow faint even though he wasn't far away and it seemed like him and his rider were fading. The moment they turned the corner, the hoof beats ceased all together, leaving the woods eerily silent.

Selene shakily got to her feet and leaned against the tree she had tripped on.

"What was that all about?" she said aloud.

She rested a moment, then headed off toward the cave where Marie and, she hoped, Belle would be. All along the path, everything was quiet. Not even the animals were out.

By the time she got back to the cave, the sun was just hanging over the horizon. She walked through the entrance and was immediately smothered by Marie.

"Where the Hell were you?!" she yelled, still clutching the taller woman around the neck and ignoring her frantic struggles for escape. "You should have been back hours ago!"

Selene whimpered in pain and Marie let her go. Selene clutched at her shoulder and Marie gasped. "What did you do?"

"Did Belle come back here?" asked Selene ignoring Marie's questions.

"Did you loose her?!" Marie nearly shouted.

"She ran off."

At Marie's disbelieving look Selene sighed and sat at the table. "I'll start from the beginning."

Selene when through the whole night's events and Marie interrupted her when she got to the part when she told she was shot.

Marie stood up from the chair opposite Selene and Selene took her shirt off to show her the makeshift bandage. When Marie looked questioningly at her she held up her hands. "I'm getting there."

While she continued the story Marie tended to her wound, but abruptly stopped and sat down when Selene told her about Jaegar.

Selene stopped and looked at her, but Marie, white faced, urged her to continue.

Selene complied and about halfway through her account of the night Marie began dressing her wound again. When Selene reached the end of her tale, Marie had finished bandaging her gunshot wound and had sat down again, apparently thinking Selene's story over.

Selene watched her for a moment or two then stood and walked over to the wardrobe to change into her nightgown. She thought about just going to sleep, but recounting the events of last night woke her up completely. Selene could sleep later. Right now, she wanted to know what Marie thought of all this.

When Selene turned back around, Marie was over on the other side of the cave searching through cabinets.

Selene walked back over to the 'kitchen' and pulled herself out an apple for breakfast, but when she sat down and saw what Marie was bringing back over to the table, her appetite vanished as her mouth ran dry.

In her hands, Marie held a small silk bag that had been dyed a deep red. She was holding it carefully, one hand supporting it from the bottom as if she were afraid the bag would split. Selene stared at that little bag and knew something about Jaegar had seriously spooked Marie, and now she was about to find out what.

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_Ha! Left you hangin' there, didn't I? I think this is my favorite chapter so far. It's the one that took the longest and I'm extremly proud of it, so if any of you badmouth it I'll hang your entrails from my window like a flag and watch as your body becomes a birdfeeder for the crows that live in my yard. On a less threatining note, I'd like to take a moment to honor a few special people. Take it away Squee. Squee:Ok! First 'Thanks-Very-Much' goes to Sabriel, the first one to review **Selene.**** Army of people: Huzzah!** Squee:Wow, cool army. Thanks, got 'em off ebay. They really come in handy att times like this. Squee:Sweet. Second 'Thanks-Very-Much' is for Nyx, the second reviewer! **Army of people: Huzzah!** Wonderful! Thanks Squee. Squee: Do I get a 'Thanks-Very-Much' award? No, they're reserved for my reviewers. Squee:Aw... 'Till next time my friends!_

_**Nox**_


	9. Chapter 8: The Runes

_YES! FINALLY! I'm truely sorry it has taken so long. Many things have stood in my way, massive writer's block, extreemly difficult finals at school, uncooprative parents, my older brother's graduation and party, yea. Fun times all around. But I will no longer bore you with my problems, on to the chapter you have all been waiting for for so long! I apologize for that again..._

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Chapter Eight

The Runes

Selene remembered the first time Marie brought out that little red pouch.

Ten years ago:

_Selene stared at the bedraggled, half-starved man from her hiding place. Marie had always told her not to talk to strangers, and this was a very strange stranger. She moved aside a little to get a better look at him, but her hair had caught on a branch without her noticing and the twig snapped as her hair pulled it. The stranger looked up at her alarmed, then scrambled towards her. She yelped and began to run, but his horse, parched voice stopped her._

"_No! Please don't go. Help me, please!" He sobbed, practically begging her. It had alarmed her to see an adult loose his composure like that, she'd always thought nothing could unsettle adults._

_She thought for a moment, then turned and beckoned to him. He cried out with joy and ran after her, but she out ran him and hid again._

"_Please… Please…" She heard him whimper. _

_She peaked out from the forest onto the path again so he could see her, then scurried ahead and peaked out again. She lead him back, but kept her distance and kept hid when he tried to catch up with her. She let him catch glimpses of her as she ran from hiding place to hiding place. The last leg of the journey she kept in sight of him, he no longer tried to catch up with her. _

_When they reached the cave, she held her hands out to him, signaling him to stop. He stopped and when she was sure he wouldn't move, she ran inside and nearly fell over when she collided with Marie. _

"_Selene! What is it?" She asked worried._

"_There's a stranger outside! He was lost and he asked for help, but I didn't know what to do so I brought him to you. You always know what to do Marie."_

"_Yes, well. Let's see this stranger of your's. Go get him."_

_Selene poked her head outside again and waved her arm to tell him to come inside. He stood up from where he had sat and stumbled through the door. Selene ran to the stable where a very young Belle nickered and walked up beside her, begging to be scratched. Selene scratched her, taking off some of the baby fur she was starting to loose as she listened to Marie and the stranger._

_Apparently, the stranger was trying to bring a letter to Sleepy Hollow from Tarry Town. He had tried to take a shortcut through the forest and had gotten lost. That was three days ago._

"_Selene," Marie called._

_Selene cautiously emerged from the baby Belle's stall._

"_How about you bring this gentleman some food and water?" Asked Marie._

_Selene nodded and went to fetch the food. When she brought it to the table where the man was sitting, she hurriedly put the food down and fled to a few feet away._

_After the man had eaten and drank, he stared at Selene, hovering close enough to listen but far enough away to run if she had to._

"_What's wrong with her?" he asked Marie, still staring curiously at Selene who stared back._

"_Nothing. She has hardly ever seen people besides herself and me, so I'd imagine she's curious."_

_He looked at Selene in silence for a moment then said, "That can't be good for her…"_

_Marie stared at him as if he'd grown horns._

"_Why would you care?" asked Marie._

"_Well, she did save my life, didn't she? Plus she reminds me of a woman I once loved. She was from Sleepy Hollow too."_

_The man slipped off his chair and knelt down so he was level with Selene. Up close, Selene could see his features better. He had black hair not unlike her own, and his face was strange. It was pleasing to look at, but it had a foreign beauty to it._

_"Her eyes look just like Mary's."_

_Selene allowed him to get closer to her. She looked over him and saw Marie's face had gone white._

_Marie turned and began searching through boxes and cabinets until she returned with a red, silken pouch. She motioned for the man to sit opposite her again and he complied. Selene walked over to the edge of the table to watch._

_Marie shook the bag slightly and the contents rattled together slightly._

"_Put your hand over and say your name, then don't say another thing until I say you can. Selene, stay quiet please." She held out the bag for the man, but he didn't move._

"_What is all this?"_

"_These are my runes. Powerful magic. They tell the past, present, and future, but they are very hard to read. Before you do this, you must be sure this is what you want. It is a very disturbing thing to know one's future."_

_The man looked grim as he seemed to think for a moment, then he placed his palm over the bag._

"_Alexander Rin."_

_There was silence for a moment before Marie suddenly dumped the contents of the bag over the table._

Marie motioned for Selene to sit on the same side of the table that that man had all those years ago. Marie held out the bag, but Selene refused to comply just yet.

"I thought you told me you'd never read my runes? That it was an awful thing to know one's fate?"

Marie sighed. "I'm sorry Selene. I lied to you. To tell you the truth, I'd have to tell you the whole story."

"Well then? Get telling."

Marie sighed again. "Not right now. My power is strongest now, and I need to be at my full power to do this properly."

Selene stared at her over the table, then nodded and put her hand out.

"Selene," she said.

"You need your last name too," said Marie. "Rin."

Selene stared at Marie. 'Rin? Does she mean like Alexander Rin, that stranger?'

"Selene Rin," Said Selene. The name felt strange on her tounge.

A tense few seconds of silence washed over them, then Marie dumped the runes out over the table. About a dozen small bones spilled forth from the pouch. Each one of them was engraved with small pictures.

Marie pointed to the right side of the table from where Selene was sitting.

"We start from your east, like the sun. Here is where we find your dawn of life." She pointed to a single bone all by itself, engraved with a shadowy stick figure.

"the shadow. In the beginning, it stands for an evil presence close to you."

She pointed to two bones, just touching each other. The first held a skull, but the other held a hatching egg.

"Death, and life together. You had a past life."

Shivers ran up Selene's spine. 'So what Jaegar said was true?'

Right next to the two was three bones touching. Marie pointed to the first two, which were overlapping one another.

"The heart jewel, love; and the sideways eight, eternity. True love. So close to the past life symbols it must mean your past love will come back to haunt you. But what's this," here she pointed to the third bone, touching the love one. This one had a crack down the center.

"Devastation. Something happened to you and your love."

She looked around the table.

"That's all the bones have to say about your past life. Your family," she pointed to a bone with a tree on in, then her finger moved to the two bones touching it.

"This one lying right up against it, your mother. The star. Magic."

Selene nearly gasped, but remembered not to make a sound.

"The one sideways would be your father. The flying bird. A wanderer. Both runes are lying on their sides; your parents are no longer of this world."

Marie pointed to a sword rune near the star rune.

"The sword is pointed toward the mother rune, but no other runes are near it. Damning self destruction."

Marie closed her eyes, then opened them again.

"My powers are waning now. We must hurry."

She pointed to the largest cluster of bones in the center of the table. At the center was a rune of a rearing horse, but it was set sideways.

"Hmm, a knight, but dead. And look," a black bone was right up next to it. "Darkness."

"Next to them, the shield. Your defender."

Marie shuddered, "Not much time left. Another sword, coming from a person. Tragedy will befall your knight."

Marie gulped.

"That is all I can do. The runes have had enough."

And with that she swept all the bones back into their little silk pouch, which she slid into a box next to her. Selene got up and got a glass of water for Marie, who drank it all at once.

"Are you ok, Marie?" Asked Selene while going to fill Marie's glass again.

"Yes, just tired. I'm sorry I lied to you."

"Don't worry about it, I just want to know the truth now. Will you tell me?"

Marie took another drink. "Of course."

Marie moved to the chair next to Selene.

"Your mother's name was Mary Archer VanTassel," Marie broke off to take another drink and Selene's eyes widened.

"VanTassel? As in Robert VanTassel?"

"Yes. She married into their family, so technically you are not of their blood."

"But then how-" Marie cut her off.

"Are you gonna ask questions or am I gonna tell a story?"

Selene shut up and stared at Marie expectantly.

"Good, now… Mary was my big sister's best friend. Julie (my sister) and I had a very close relationship, which was rather odd considering out age difference. She was almost seven years older than me. Wherever I went, she went. So of course, when she became Mary's best friend, so did I. The three of us did everything together! Once, we accidentally pushed Mr. VanKint's brand new buggy into the…" She let her words fade as she seemed to go back in her memories, but came to her senses when Selene cleared her throat.

"Yes, well. A story for another time then."

She took another sip of water before continuing.

"The three of us were happy for awhile. Mary introduced us to her twin and her family. They lived in an adorable cottage. But one day, after her father was killed, the VanTassels evicted her and her sister and mother. Julie and I helped them all we could, but times were tough for us all. Mary was never the same from then on. She seemed colder, meaner; she told me once she was out for revenge.

"One day, Mary came running up to me and Julie. She seemed very excited and was rambling on about something about a soldier becoming her ghost. Naturally we asked what she meant, and she told us about his last stand."

Selene gasped. 'Is that my ghost? No, he's not my anything!' she corrected herself, 'Jaegar, his name is Jaegar.' Selene was about to ask the question when Marie continued.

"He had suddenly appeared in the forest, running from the red-coats, but he stopped when he came across the twins. Apparently they surprised him as much as he surprised them. He told them to keep quiet, but Mary said she'd snapped one of the branches she'd been collecting. She said she wasn't sure why she'd done it, she'd acted on impulse. Her sister ran, but Mary hid and watched as the soldier tried to fight off the redcoats. He fought savagely, but they outnumbered him. As they killed him, Mary told me she offered up her soul if the devil would ground the spirit's ghost to this realm, and he did. As they buried him, she said she could hear instructions to dig up his head when she wanted him, and tell it what to do.

"After that, Julie would have nothing more to do with Mary, but I stayed by her side. Who knows why," She said with a short laugh. "I think I imagined I could bid her to give up her dreams of revenge. Maybe if I continued to be her friend, she would be happy enough to forget. And it worked, for awhile anyway. We grew up together. Unfortunately, her hunger for revenge was dug up again.

"When she was twenty-five, she married into the VanTassel family. She began her plot for revenge by digging up the soldier's head; thus the headless horseman was born."

'Ah,' thought Selene, 'so Jaegar _was_ the ghost my mother grounded.'

Marie continued, "Not long afterward, she met your father. He fell in love with her, and she almost fell in love with him; but one without a soul cannot truly love. They saw each other often as they could, but after awhile the devil reminded Mary of her revenge. She began to focus more on her plans, but not long afterward, you came along.

"She couldn't let her husband find you, with your father's black hair and facial features, it was obvious you were illegitimate. She brought you to the waterfall not long after you were born and, crying the whole time, she tossed you in the water. She ran off and I dove in to save you. My parents and Julie had given up the magic in their blood to go join the town, where they would live happily, but I stayed behind. I had been living in this cave, so I brought you back here. Even though I was only fifteen, barely a woman, I looked after you. It went against everything in me to let you die, and I know your mother didn't want to get rid of you.

"You were an adorable baby. I was never going to tell your mother that I saved you, but you made me change my mind." Marie smiled, lost in her memories. "When you said your first word, I cried. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was feeding you from a bottle like what we did for Belle when she was a baby. Right before you drifted off to sleep, you said 'Mama' and broke my heart. I started saying 'Not mama, Marie!' over and over again, but you'd fallen asleep. The next day I sent a letter to your mother and told her to come see me. When she came, I showed her you. She cried, which got me crying and then you joined in for good measure." She laughed, then became somber again.

"She would have been a great mother. She fed you and changed you and played with you. When she had to leave, she named you. 'Selene, for the moon. It will always watch over her, even when I'm gone.' That was the last night I spoke to her.

"I was there the night she died. The famous constable Crane from the city, The VanTassel girl, and a young boy faced off against the Horseman and Mary. Mary was after Katrina VanTassel, the last in the way of her inheriting a lot of the VanTassel fortune. She shot the constable, but some god must have been watching out for him, because he stayed in this realm. The constable fought with your mother over her gun, but the horseman came and turned the odds in her favor. The horseman had grabbed the Katrina girl and tried to cut off her head. The constable had found the skull your mother had been using to control the horseman, and was struggling to get it from her. The boy hit her over the head with a shovel, knocking her out cold. Constable Crane called to the horseman, then threw him the skull. He let the girl go, and-" She cut herself off then swallowed another sip of water. Selene noticed she became even more pale.

"He re-attached his head, and I wasn't sure if his face was scarier than him being headless. He would have been attractive, but he had a mouth full of fangs and his eyes, they were beautiful, but no human has eyes like that." It was Selene's turn to blanch.

Marie noticed and leaned forward. "Was it him? Did this horseman look like him?"

Selene nodded. "Wh- what happened after J-" she caught herself before she said his name. "The horseman, what happened after he got his head back?"

Marie looked grim. "He was set free. He got back up on his monster of a horse and rode over to Mary. She came to in his arms. What happened next was, well… it looked like he kissed her, but blood began pouring down her front and when he looked up again his mouth was covered in her blood."

Marie stopped again and closed her eyes in horror. Selene remembered Jaegar licking up her blood and she swallowed hard.

"After that he carried her off into the tree. That was the last I ever saw of either of them. The rest is history, as they say. I raised you the best I could. And here we stand today, a new story unfolding."

Selene sat back in the chair and took in all that Marie had said.

After a moment she asked, "But why would he come back after all this time? What does he want with me?"

"To know that, you will have to ask him."

Selene gaped at her.

"You- you're not suggesting I actually go talk to him tonight!"

"No. I will find him. You will have been long gone. Start packing your things." Marie stood up, but Selene didn't move, but sat staring open-mouthed at her 'Aunt'.

"I- I can't leave. I can't abandon the forest! They're gonna keep trying to demolish it."

"I didn't save you from the river just so you could get killed by some madman!" yelled Marie whirling around again.

"But, What about the forest?"

"That's not as important as your life! Aren't you scared, Selene? You saw for yourself how easily he killed those men. You should be afraid!"

Selene laughed nervously. "Of course I'm afraid. I'm terrified. But, he didn't really try to hurt me. He did bandage my wound, and he really only chased me because I ran first."

Marie stared at her like her head had turned into a chicken. 'I'm only defending him because I need more reasons to stay,' She told herself.

Marie spoke up again. "Selene, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

She nodded. 'I sure as hell hope so.' She kept that comment to herself.

* * *

_Yay again! I'll try my best to get the next one out sooner than this. It should be easier since school's out, but I'm not promicing anything. Sorry again for the wait!_

**_Nox_**


	10. Chapter 9: Lunch with Lee's

**Chapter Nine**

Lunch with Lee's

The first thing Selene felt when she woke up was a calm daze, followed by irrational fear. Why was she so worried again? And why did it feel like she had no sleep at all?

She sat up in bed and stretched her arms out, then stopped in mid stretch. The night before came back and hit her like a ton of bricks. It took her a moment to remember and grasp it all.

"Oh yea…" she murmured to herself. Then she realized she looked like she was trying to imitate a bird and put her arms down.

She got up and looked outside. It appeared to be afternoon, she'd slept through nearly the entire day! She hurriedly changed out of her nightgown and into a worn dark blue dress before running out the door.

"Whoa ho! Where are you going in such a hurry?" asked Marie catching Selene as the younger woman ran into her.

"I have to go find Belle. She ran off and I have no idea where she might be."

"Exactly. So where do you plan on looking?"

"I-" She stopped. 'I have no idea. Wait, yes I do!'

"Anna. She knows all about horses, she'll help me find her."

"And what will you tell her when she asks how she ran off? You can't tell the truth, she'll think you're mad."

"I'll- I'll say she…" Selene stopped to think a moment, then a little light bulb went off in her head.

"I'll say on the way home we encountered Jaegar! I won't call him that of course. I'll say we were running through the forest, and we nearly collided with him. I got knocked from the saddle, and Belle saw him and ran. I hid in the underbrush and he ran off toward the loggers." Selene nodded, proud of herself for coming up with a good story.

"You might want to say 'north of Sleepy Hollow' rather than 'toward the loggers.' How were you suppose to know they were there if you hid and then came home?"

"Oh, I see your point. Alright then, thanks Marie," and she continued on her way around the cliff toward Anna's home.

"Be careful!" Marie shouted after her.

She had been walking for a few minutes when she heard it.

'_How is your shoulder, Fraulein?'_

Selene gasped and spun around even thought she wouldn't see him.

"What do you want?"

'_What's wrong?' _Jaegar's voice asked.

"'What's wrong?' You are asking _me_ what's wrong? You try to kill me and then just expect to be on friendly terms with you?" She shouted to the forest.

'_Calm yourself, Mien Fraulein. I never meant to harm you. You ran from me, so I went after you,' _he said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Why?" she demanded, her voice turned down a bit.

_'Why? Now you aren't making any sense. Do you think, after looking for you for so long, I'd just let you go like that? When I practically had you in my grasp?'_ He sounded slightly irritated, but Selene didn't care.

"What do you want with me? Why am I so important?" Selene asked. She was calm now, but still a little on edge. Jaegar didn't answer right away.

_'I tell you if you come to me tonight, and promise not to run away.'_

Selene sighed and thought it over. She didn't want to, but if she said no, how was she to know he wouldn't come after her anyway? 'I'm trapped,' she thought.

"Alright, I'll meet you. Where?"

_'At the center of the forest is a huge tree, the tree of the dead. Come to me there.'_

"Ok. So what do you want me for?"

_'Ah, but if I tell you now, what's to keep you coming to me?'_

Selene glared, but that only made him laugh. Her stomach tingled at that laugh.

She continued walking to try and put his voice behind her.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find my horse, thanks to you."

_'What do you mean?'_

"She doesn't like dead things."

_'Ah… I apologize for that. I often forget what reaction my presence gets.'_

Selene ignored him and kept walking. She knew she should feel at least uneasy around him, but she just couldn't.

When she reached the edge of the forest, Selene broke out into a run. She loved the feeling of running over grass barefooted. She remembered just the other day when she was riding Belle over this ground. 'Wow, just the other day I still had no idea who Jaegar was…'

_'You called?'_

"I wasn't talking to you." She snapped at him.

_'It's not like I can help it, whenever you say or think my name I have to come.'_

"Why?"

_'All will be explained soon enough.'_

"If you're not gonna tell me anything important, you can just shut up."

_'So polite…'_

Selene ignored him again and continued running. When she came upon the hill where she had met Anna last time, she stopped then began walking up the hill. Anna will know where to find Belle. She got to the top of the hill and looked over the green pastures.

They were empty. No horses. No Anna. No Belle.

"Dammit…" She muttered.

She stood there thinking. She couldn't even see the horses, as big a herd as they were. She spotted the small house in the distance and cringed. She could go knock on the door and ask for Anna. What if it wasn't her house?

'Of course it's her house,' thought Selene, 'she told me so last time, Right?'

"Only one way to find out…" She thought out loud.

She walked down the hill with purpose heading for the little farmhouse. As she got closer, she noticed that half the house wasn't a house at all. There was a barn built right into the house.

The closer she got, the more nervous she became. More 'what if's' slid into her mind.

'What if she's not there?'

She was close enough now to see and hear people moving around in the barn.

'What if they tell me to leave?'

She cringed when she heard someone shouting.

'What if they say I'm trespassing on their property?'

She heard some people inside laughing.

'What if she pretends not to know me so she can make fun of me?'

'No,' said a more confident voice in her head. 'She wouldn't do that, she called you her best friend! She'll help us.'

'But what if she's not home? Then what will we do?'

They were close enough to touch the back porch now. Suddenly Anna's laugh rang out above the other people's.

'I guess that answers that…'

Selene took a deep breath and walked resolutely up the wooden steps. She hesitated, then knocked three times on the door. Instantly the laughter stopped and she heard a woman ask, "Now who can that be?" from inside. Selene nearly turned and hid, but within seconds the door was opened.

Standing at the door was an older woman. She wore a faded yellow dress and white apron that contrasted with her dark skin. She was large, taller that Selene and wider too. She was wiping her callused hands on her apron and smiling down at Selene.

"Well hello there. What can I do for you?" She asked kindly.

"Um, I'm- I'm looking for Anna," said Selene in a timid murmur.

"Selene?" asked Anna's voice from behind the woman. The woman moved aside and Anna was there, taking Selene up in a big hug.

"What are you doing here?" Anna asked Selene when she let go of her.

Selene opened her mouth to tell when the large woman spoke up again.

"Anna, where are your manners?"

"Oh," she said, "pardon me. Selene, this is Joan," she gestured to the woman who nodded back, "my brother Carl," she motioned toward a short man seated at the table who waved back, "and you know my dad."

Mr. Lee smiled at Selene. "Good to see you again."

"Same here," replied Selene smiling back.

'I told you they wouldn't hate you,' said the confident voice in her head. For a moment she wondered if it was another ghost, but she immediately dismissed the thought. She knew it was just another part of her.

"Won't you please join us for lunch?" Offered Mr. Lee.

"I'd love to," she replied.

Anna sat down on one side of the table and Selene sat next to her.

"Careful," warned Carl. "That's Eddy's seat. He gets upset if he's not sitting by Anna."

Anna gasped and threw her napkin at Carl who only laughed and threw it back.

"That's enough of that," said Mr. Lee obstructing their napkin war.

"Hey Joan," called Carl. "When are we gonna eat?"

"When the boys get in from the barn." She responded.

At that moment, the screen door banged open making Selene jump and reach for the knife she always kept on her, hidden on her leg beneath her dress. She relaxed a little when four people walked in and sat around the table completely ignoring her. They were all talking loudly.

"So where do you think she came from?" asked a teen who looked like he was Joan's son.

"I dunno, maybe the town?" replied a young man who had fiery red hair and a handsome smile.

"Nah," said a third who looked even younger than Anna and had the same blonde hair. "I know all about everyone from Sleepy Hollow, and I've never seen that horse before.

"What's all this about?" Asked Mr. Lee.

"We found a new mare among the herd." Supplied the fourth man. He was bigger even than Mr. Lee, but it looked like he'd been working hard all his life. What caught her attention about him was that he was bald. She'd never seen a person with no hair before.

"We might not have found her, she looks like she's at the very least half andalusian. But she had a saddle and bridal on. Poor thing was covered in sweat, like it ran all night. I think she got the rest of the herd upset, they were all spooked."

"What color was she?" asked Selene surprising them all.

"She was all black," said the youngest boy who was now sitting across from Selene.

Selene stood up and Anna followed suit.

"What's wrong Selene?"

"Belle ran off the other night, that's why I came to ask for your help. I thought you could help me find her since you know a lot about horses, but now it seems like I won't have to."

"No need worrying about her now then," said Joan from behind the two girls, making Selene jump and spin around. "The horse will still be there after we eat. Now sit down, the both of you so I can serve."

"Here, here," cheered Carl.

Selene and Anna sat down and soup was ladled out into bowls in front of them.

"Who's your friend, Anna?" asked the young redhead on the other side of Anna.

"Oh! Selene, this is Eddy," the young redhead waved. "This is my younger brother Dean," She pointed to the blonde boy who also waved. "This is Henry," The big man smiled and nodded to her. "And this is George." The teen smiled at her and Selene smiled back. "This is Selene everyone."

They all looked up from their food at Selene. Eddy said, "I wondered when we'd get to meet Anna's wild friend who lived alone in the forest."

Selene grew pale, but then relaxed when none of them started treating her any different.

She looked down and began to eat her soup to avoid looking at the people watching her.

"Eat your soup and leave the girl alone," ordered Joan sitting down on Selene's other side with her own bowl of soup. "It's rude to stare."

Everyone ate and talked about everything. Eddy, Henry, George, and Carl talked about the horses, Dean was asking Mr. Lee about his job with Joan listening and Anna seemed to be looking back and forth between the two conversations, adding a comment here and there. It was so different than what Selene was used to!

"So, Selene," said Eddy getting her attention. "How do you do it? It must be hard living in the forest, let alone by your self."

"Oh it's not that bad," Selene replied after a moment. "Marie, my aunt, is home now, so it's easier. Not as much to do."

"But it must be dangerous!" added Dean. "I heard Brock saying he had fought off a dark spirit."

Selene gave an un-ladylike snort. "There's nothing in the forest like that. The worst things in the forest are wolves, but they only come around on lean winters.

When she stopped she realized the whole table was watching her and she blushed and looked away.

"Then why did Belle run off?" asked Anna.

Selene hesitated, looking around at the other people at the table. She really didn't want to lie to these people. They shared their meal with her.

'Just pretend you're only telling them a story,' said her voice of conviction.

"Well," she started, gaining new determination from the little voice. "I was riding through the woods to check up on everything. That's one of the jobs I've had since I was little."

"Have you ever found anything?" interrupted George, causing Joan to shush him.

"Um, the first thing I found was Belle, Marie and I found her wandering through the wood as a baby. There was a buggy that looked like it'd crashed a long time ago, a burnt down windmill (What that was doing in the forest I have no idea), and I once found a man who was lost."

"Really?" said George and Selene nodded.

"But if you've had her since she was a baby, I'd think Belle would be extremely loyal," added Mr. Lee trying to get back on topic.

"She is, we just- ran into a little trouble." Selene paused and took a drink from the water glass that had been placed at her spot on the table before she had arrived, using the moment to pull together details of her story.

"We were running along one of the paths we like to travel, when suddenly a rider shot out in front of us. All I saw of him was a big mass of black before Belle stood up neighing, throwing me from the saddle. I landed behind her, but when she spun around I clambered off the path to get out of the way. The rider who scared her off had stopped and was looking around, probably for me."

Selene paused and took another drink, thinking of what to say next. 'Best keep it short and sweet,' she thought.

"He was the most terrifying man I've ever seen. He was sitting astride the biggest horse I've ever seen; the beast's shoulder was about as tall as I am. The man was wearing some sort of old style of black and green armor. His face was deathly pale and he had mussed up black hair and eerie blue eyes. And his teeth… They weren't teeth at all, but fangs." She paused and added a well-placed shudder.

"His ghostly blue eyes fell on me and I couldn't breathe for fear. I thought I wouldn't ever see the sun rise again. But whether he saw me or not I don't know; he rode on."

A fearful silence fell over the table, ringing with Selene's words. Selene had to concentrate hard on her soup to keep from smiling. It worked! They believed her! She mentally gave herself a pat on the back.

"No way," said Dean breaking the silence.

A jolt of fear ran up Selene's spine. Maybe she didn't have them as fooled as she thought.

"Which way did he ride?" continued Dean excitedly.

Selene had to stifle her sigh of relief. 'This is a tricky business, lying. You never know when you'll be found out! I don't think I want anything more to do with it."

"North," she answered. "Just above Sleepy Hollow."

"That's amazing!" he cried. "Remember what I was telling you guys in the barn?" He asked looking at Eddy, Henry and George, "about all those people they found beheaded? The survivors gave a description about a guy like that! I think there was a woman too, but she ran off before the guy came. Wow Selene, that guy could have killed you!"

"Yea, I thought so." Selene's face paled at the memory of those loggers.

'Jaegar had taken them out so easily! What if he tries to do the same to me tonight?'

"Before she realized what she had done, she heard him again.

_'Selene, I would never do that to you. I will never hurt you, Fräulein.'_

She jumped slightly, but only Anna noticed. The rest of the table was engrosed in conversation about the killings last night.

"Are you okay?" Anna whispered to Selene.

"Yea," she whispered back.

'I hate it when you do that,' Selene thought to Jaegar.

_'Es tut mir leid, dass. I apologize. But you were the one who called me.'_

'Oh shut up.' She snapped back.

_'Such manners,'_ he teased.

Selene began eating her soup and listening to the table's conversation, all the while aware of Jaegar's presence in the back of her mind.

"All kinds of rumors have been flying all over town," said Dean.

George cut in, "but you said you didn't believe any of them."

"Yea, well that was before I heard Selene's story. It fits in perfectly! How else would she know what he looked like?"

"Maybe…"

"But you know what rumor I've heard the most? The one that everyone's talking about?"

"What?" asked Joan, smiling as though she only asked to humor him.

He bent low over the table and whispered, "They're sayin' that the Headless Horseman has returned."

Selene choked on her soup and Joan patted her back roughly.

"Are you ok Selene?" the concerned older woman asked.

Selene swallowed and nodded, eyes streaming. She wiped them with her napkin and looked up at Dean again.

Taking this as his cue to continue the story, he told the whole rumor in hushed tones.

"They're saying now that he has his head back, he's just looking for people to kill. That maybe that crazy Archer woman was doing us all a favor by keeping him under control."

"Wow," murmured Anna, speaking quietly like Dean. "Selene, maybe you and your aunt should move out of the forest. It's not safe there anymore. You could come stay with us."

Selene felt Jaegar's presence rise up defiantly and foreboding and she felt his possessiveness and stubbornness about letting her go. Selene tried to shake him off, but he seemed to cling to her, making her panic a little.

Selene shook her head in answer to Anna's question. "I couldn't impose upon you like that, and besides, Marie, my aunt, was living in the forest before and during the first escapade of the Horseman. She has secrets of keeping us safe. We will be fine."

"Secrets? Like magic?" asked George seemingly very interested.

"You could say that."

Anna shuddered and Selene looked worriedly at her.

"Are you ok?" Selene asked her.

"Yea," Anna muttered skittishly.

"Poor Anna," murmured Eddy wrapping an arm around Anna's shoulders. "She's scared of magic," he said to Selene while still looking at Anna.

"Get off," said Anna lightheartedly and pulled Eddy's arm off her. "I'm not scared of magic, I just don't like it. And what have I told you about that?"

"Sorry princess," apologized Eddy playfully, obviously not meaning it.

Anna gave a ladylike snort and glared impishly at him.

Selene, who had been watching their display with some curiosity, looked back down to finish her soup and found it empty. She looked around the table and saw most of the others had finished too.

"Well boys," said Mr. Lee standing up. "Why don't you go show Selene the horse you found? I'm sure she's anxious to find her horse."

* * *

_Gonna keep my ranting to a minimal now. Hope you liked! Now that you've read, please review._

**_Nox_**


	11. Chapter 10: Home on the Range

**Chapter Ten**

Home on the Range

"Well boys," said Mr. Lee standing up. "Why don't you go show Selene the horse you found? I'm sure she's anxious to find her horse."

They all nodded and stood up except for Dean who asked,

"What are you going to do, father?"

"Go into town of course, same as every day."

"Can- can I come too?"

Mr. Lee looked surprised at the request.

"Why sure. Did you unsaddle your horse from this morning yet?"

"Yes," he said. "But I'll go get him again," and with that he ran out, presumably to the barn.

"Come on Selene," said Anna grabbing Selene's arm. "Let's go see if the guys found Belle."

Selene and Anna led the way out to the barn followed by Eddy, George, Henry, and Carl. When they entered the barn Selene stopped dead. A few of the horses neighed and nickered and George, Henry, and Carl started giving out some hay.

The strong stench of horse and hay reminded Selene of inside Belle's stall, only it was about five times stronger. She wasn't bothered by it, in fact it was almost comforting. Horses of every color stuck their heads out of the stall windows.

Selene quickly stepped out of the way of Dean walking past leading a horse who looked like he'd had brown paint splashed over his white fur. Dean waved to Selene and Anna before mounting the horse and going to meet Mr. Lee who was waiting for him.

Selene flinched when a large spotted nose touched her wounded shoulder. She looked over to see a golden colored horse with flaxen mane and tail. The term palomino came to mind. She gingerly stroked its face.

"I knew Dean would ask him sometime," said Anna.

"Pardon?" asked Selene.

"Dean. He came to me for advice. He wants to take over Dad's job when he retires."

Selene, nodding, scratched the palomino's neck.

"That's Prince. He's my father's best cutting horse."

At Selene's confused look Anna laughed and explained.

"He herds the horses and picks out ones father wants to sell or train."

"Oh," muttered Selene.

"Here she is," said Eddy, startling both girls. He was leading a black mare down the aisle of the barn toward them. Even though the spot on her face was still covered by the black goo that Marie had rubbed into her fur, it was none other than Belle.

Selene rushed forward and hugged her horse. Belle shied away at first, but Selene's familiar sent calmed her enough to stand still.

"Poor girl," murmured Selene into Belle's neck. "Why'd you run off and leave me like that?"

Eddy looked surprised at the affection then scoffed and whispered to Anna.

"Is she all there?"

"Of course she is." Replied Anna insulted. At Eddy's skeptical look she clarified, "She lives alone in the forest with her aunt and that horse, they're the only family she's ever know. I'm her first friend."

"Ah, that explains a few things. Like why she's so jumpy."

"It's also taught me to heighten my senses and always be aware of every thing and one around me," Selene added as a passing remark. She ignored Eddy's embarrassed look and began checking Belle over for injury, silently amused at catching Eddy. She found a few scratched on Belle's sides and legs, but nothing serious.

"Don't worry Belle," said Selene, standing up and patting Belle's shoulder. "I won't let that Demon hurt you."

'_Demon am I?'_ said Jaegar mocking offence.

'Among other things,' Selene laughingly thought back, forgetting momentarily that she was supposed to be on her guard with him.

Selene turned to Eddy and bowed slightly. "Thank you for finding and looking after her."

"S- sure," he said, a little uncomfortable about being caught talking about her behind her back.

"The tack is in the back, I'll go get it for you."

"Thank you," Selene said as he walked away. She turned to Anna. "Tack?"

Anna laughed. "The saddle and bridal."

"Oh, thanks." Selene could feel herself reddening slightly.

Eddy was returning with the saddle in his arms and the bridal and pad draped over top of it. Soon afterwards the other guys came out of the same room carrying more plain equipment than Selene's black silver-decorated 'tack' as Eddy had put it.

"Hey, why don't you ladies join me an' the boys to go patrol the herd? We were just going out," Eddy said as he approached.

Anna looked up at Selene hopefully. "Oh please? It'll be fun!"

Selene looked away and scratched the back of her neck. "I dunno, I should get home soon…"

"Just for a few hours then, I'll ride back with you when you have to go. Oh please Selene?" she begged.

Selene looked down at the sad face she was making and groaned.

"Alright, but three hours tops."

"Yay!" squealed Anna jumping up.

Eddy laughed and set Selene's saddle down. "You know how to tack up your horse, right?" he asked. Selene nodded.

"I know you know how to tack up a horse," he said to Anna. "Get to it ladies, we live in a few minutes." And with that he walked away to get his own horse ready.

"I'll come help you if you need it after I tack up Belleza," and then she walked away too.

Selene rubbed some of the dirt and sweat from Belle's coat before throwing the thick black pad over her withers and following it with the saddle. She buckled the girth on snugly and then made sure the stirrups were the right lengths. She had just finished when Anna returned.

"Here, let me help you with the bridal." Anna slid Belle's lead rope around Belle's neck then took the halter off her. Selene slid the bridal over Belle's face and they both buckled the two straps beneath Belle's head.

"There. Lead her outside. I'll be out in a moment."

Selene looked behind her and saw all the other guys talking amongst themselves while they waited for Belle to clear the aisle. Selene hurriedly pulled Belle out of the barn and away from the doors.

The others came out next with Anna leading them with Belleza. Henry Carl and George all pulled themselves into the saddles but Eddy went over to give Anna a leg up onto Belleza's back. Selene grabbed onto the saddle and put a foot in the stirrup to pull herself up. She looked over to see the rest of the party staring at her again.

She looked down and found out what they were staring at. Since she straddled the saddle, unlike Anna who was sitting sidesaddle daintily, her dress was hiked up a little past her knees. Selene gasped and blushed then stood up in the stirrups to try and fix her dress. She got it down past her knees, but that was as far as the saddle would let it go. She sighed and sat back down before guiding Belle over to Anna sitting astride Belleza.

"Do you always wear a knife, or did you wear it just for today?" she asked.

Selene looked down and sure enough, her knife was visible strapped to her calf in it's sheath.

"I hadn't worn it here last time, but meeting J- The Horseman put me on my guard." Selene had nearly slipped up! What would she have done if she'd accidentally said his name? She hoped Anna didn't notice the slip.

"Last place we left them was south of here. They're getting a little too close to the border, so I want to move them up," said Henry catching their attention. He turned his bay horse around and kicked it into a run, Selene and the rest following him.

At first they all ran single file with Henry in the front and Selene taking up the rear, but after a little while of running they began to slow down and loose their line.

Selene found herself still at the rear but now riding next to George.

"Hey," he asked quietly. "Does your aunt really know magic?"

Selene looked at him sharply for a moment before nodding.

"Wow, so does that mean you know magic too?"

"I don't have the talent for magic, but my mother did." Selene remembered the runes Marie read for her.

"Wow…" he said again. "I wish I knew magic," he said absentmindedly.

Selene looked ahead at Anna who was talking to Eddy.

"Hey George, Why does Anna hate magic?"

"Well, our grandmother was a witch. She wasn't the good kind who sees into the future or does healing magic. She had this little workshop out back in the shed. Once Anna had this cute little white kitten that she named Baby, but she hadn't had it for a week when Henry's mean old dog got hold of it, poor thing. I remember we all ran around after him, trying to make him let her go. He disappeared into Gram's shed and that's the last we ever saw of him. Although the next day we found a lot of white fur sitting piled up all neat outside the shed. Anna was heartbroken and never spoke two words to Gram after that. I think after that Anna just grew a sort of dislike for anything supernatural."

"Oh, thanks," said Selene. 'Now I understand. I'd just thought she hated it for no reason. The good magic isn't really all that bad.'

Off in the distance Selene could make out about two dozen multicolored figures grazing not too far from the main road. Selene had never gone as far as the road before, she'd always kept relatively close to the forest.

"See, they're much too close to our borders," said Henry. "Carl, you come with me. We'll surround them on the left. The rest of you get the right and we'll move them back up toward the house."

Selene and George moved closer to Anna and Eddy who were now heading off around the left side of the herd. Many of the horses were now looking up from the grass at the people, but both sides were giving them a wide berth so as not to scare them further away. When the two groups were almost behind the herd, the men began to ride toward the herd, shouting and waving their arms around.

The horses bolted, running from the people and back toward the direction of the barn/house. Anna whooped and spurred her steed onward after them, joining in the mad run. Belle shied away from the running animals, spooked by all the sudden movement and noise. Selene hurriedly got her under control again and clucked to get Belle to run after them. No way she was gonna get left behind after all this!

Selene and Belle caught up with Anna and Belleza.

"Woo!" Anna cried over the neighs of the horses and shouts of the men. "Exciting, isn't it?"

Selene nodded, too preoccupied with keeping in her saddle to form emotions into words. Truth be tell, she preferred the climatic excitement of stalking a creature barefoot through the nighttime woods than riding blindly in a mad fleeing herd.

When the house on the horizon looked about as big as a fist, the guys pulled back from the herd and joined the girls following the still running horses. The little band of people continued to fall back until the horses began to slow. Selene followed them following the horses. They all seemed so close, the Lee family and their stable hands. Like they were all a big family. She enjoyed it, but it was a little suffocating…

"Geze!" cried Anna startling Selene from her train of thought. "Selene, when were you suppose to be home? Look, the sun's beginning to set."

That sent Selene into a panic. Fear flashed across her face, but she quickly stifled it, hoping Anna missed it. Anna _was_ looking at her a little strangely, but she motioned for Selene to follow her.

"Come on, I said I'd ride back with you, so I will. See you later guys!" she called over her shoulder and waved to the men they were leaving behind. The men waved back and turned back to the horses.

Anna turned toward the setting sun but kept north. She looked back at Selene.

"What'cha doin' back there? Come on up here."

Selene urged Belle on and rode next to Anna.

"So what's bothering you?" asked Anna. Apparently she had seen Selene's fear.

Selene thought on her feet. "Well, last night I met the horseman and just barely got away with my life. I don't want to get caught in the dark again." Well, it _was _mostly true…

"Ah…"

The girls lapsed into silence. After a few minutes riding, Anna broke it again, surprising Selene again.

"Hey, race you!" and with that she kicked Belleza into a run with Belle not far behind.

Selene kept almost neck and neck with Anna. Really, Selene was using all her attention on staying atop her horse rather than winning a race. It was Belle who was trying to keep up. Apparently Belle didn't want to meet Jaegar again anytime soon.

'_I'll meet you in a few hours' time, Fräulein.'_ He seemed to caress her spirit before he dripped from her mind.

Selene shivered and had to clutch at the saddle to keep from falling from Belle. Anna seemed to notice and began to slow a little looking worriedly at her friend. Belle slowed with her and Selene smiled at her, apologetic and grateful.

"Are you sure you're ok? You know you can always stay with us. We'll take all three of you in."

Selene smiled at Anna, appreciating the gesture. Anna was offering a home for Selene's small family even though they were so tied up in magic and she feared it.

"Thank you very much, but I know how you feel. I won't put you in an uncomfortable situation when I know we'll be fine the way we are now."

Now it was Anna's turn to smile gratefully.

The girls reached the edge of the forest when the sun began to look like just another bright hill among all the other green ones. Selene turned to Anna and hugged her. She was worried about what would happen tonight and she wanted to say goodbye properly.

"Bye Anna. I'll stop by tomorrow if I can, and I'll bring Marie with me."

"Oh good! Come by at whatever meal you want. I'm afraid that's the only way to see everybody at once."

They both laughed and hugged once more. Then Anna wheeled Belleza around and galloped off away from the sun.

Selene sighed and turned toward home, hoping this wouldn't be the last time she ever saw her friend.

* * *

_Hope you liked! Review!_

_Oh, and I'm looking for an editor. You know, someone to check gramor and make sure I stay in character with my people and offer suggestions to the story. If anyone's intrested, e-mail me!_

**_Nox_**


	12. Chapter 11: Meeting in the Forest

**Chapter Eleven**

Meeting in the Forest

Selene walked through the cave, leading Belle to her stall. Marie had been sitting in her chair but stood up when Selene walked in and began asking her questions that fell upon decideingly deaf ears. Selene unstrapped the bridal then pulled it off Belle's ears then unbuckled the girth from the saddle and walked around to do the same to the other side when Marie appeared at the door.

"Well?" asked the impatient older woman.

"Well what?" said Selene sounding weary.

Marie huffed and watched Selene pull the saddle and pad off Belle and prop them up against the wall.

"Haven't you been paying attention to a word I've said?"

"No," said Selene, too worn to try and be polite.

"I asked where you found Belle."

"_I_ didn't find her. Anna's family did. She went to their herd of horses."

"I also asked what took you so long, it's nearly sundown!"

"First they asked me to stay for lunch, and then they asked me to come see their horses. I couldn't refuse them."

"What if you hadn't made it back in time? What if you had been caught in the dark with _him_ coming after you?"

"I made sure to tell them I had to be back well after dark. And besides, I already told him I would come to him tonight if he didn't come after me."

"Selene, are you sure this is a good idea? What if he…" she let her question die off, a look of extreme worry on her face.

"Calm down Marie, I don't think he will…" Selene was surprised to find she wasn't just trying to comfort Marie. She really meant it! Something about him just told her that he could trust him, Nevermind all the people he's killed. Nevermind the fact that he's a ghost grounded because a virgin sold her soul to the devil to do so. Nevermind that everything about him screams danger. Despite only knowing him for a day, Selene trusted him.

Selene realized she'd zoned out and hurriedly finished her sentence.

"Besides, you will be there to back me up."

Marie stared at Selene.

"You're nuts."

"I am not! You even said you were gonna go talk to him by yourself before."

"That was so you would leave."

"I wouldn't leave you alone!"

Marie smiled at Selene then hugged her.

"I knew you wouldn't. You have such a big heart."

Selene didn't know what to say, so she simply put her arms around the older woman and hugged her back.

"So, Where are we going to see him? I'm guessing somewhere inside the forest?" Asked Marie, breaking the silence and the hug by pulling away.

"Yea. Jaegar said there's an old tree in the center of the forest. We're to meet him there. We should get ready." Said Selene walking out of the stall.

"Yes, we should. Are you sure you don't want to bring Belle? What will we do if we need a quick getaway?" she asked as she followed Selene.

"Last time Belle fled before he even appeared, and I don't want to loose her again. We'll be fine on foot."

"If you say so," said Marie sounding skeptical. "I'll leave you to get dressed. There are some things I want to gather as well." And she walked off towards the kitchen.

Selene changed into the clothes she used for hunting, dark pants and shirt. She reached for her belt and was surprised to find it wasn't in its normal place beside her bow. Instead she found it in the bottom of the wardrobe. She lifted it out and found it still had the beautiful short sword attached to it. 'Might not be a bad idea to bring it,' she thought. She buckled it around her hips and moved her knife to the outside of her pants. No use for it being where she couldn't reach it. She'd gotten so used to wearing it all day that she'd forgotten to take it off when she changed.

Selene sat down near the door and pulled her boots on one at a time before lacing them up and standing again. By this time Marie had straightened up from her workroom and looked over at Selene.

"Ready?" she asked.

Selene nodded and walked out the door, followed by Marie.

"What's in the basket?" Selene asked.

"Just some things we might need." She answered cryptically and patted the picnic basket slung over her arm.

Selene let the question go, knowing when her Aunt wouldn't answer her straight, but wondering all the same.

Selene paused, looking around; unsure of where to go. Marie took the lead, walking down a path that was nearly invisible. It was old; the forest had nearly taken it over. Selene and Marie had to walk single file because the path was so narrow and needed to be careful to avoid sharp branches from the trees closing in. The only sound coming from the leaves crunching underfoot and the slight wind blowing through the branches of trees.

"So," said Selene more to break the silence than to satisfy curiosity. "How do you know which way to go?"

"Don't you remember? I followed your mother to the tree when she went to greet the horseman."

"What do you mean, 'greet the horseman?' Did he used to meet her there to get his assignments?"

"You'll see," said Marie in an annoying singsong voice.

Selene sighed in frustration. "Are you going to answer anything I ask?"

"Depends on what you ask."

Selene groaned making Marie laugh.

"You are very annoying. One would think you're the younger of us the way you act," taunted Selene.

"That's because you act like an old lady."

"Hey! Who are you calling old lady, old lady!"

"I am not old! I'm only ten years older than you."

"Only?"

Marie glared at Selene.

"What do you mean 'only'?" Marie asked and inconspicuously grabbed a stick hanging off a tree. "I'll 'only' you!" She took a swipe at Selene who ducked then ran ahead laughing. Marie ran after her with the stick raised high.

After Marie's stick got caught on one of the branches above them, making Marie loose her balance and nearly fall, the two of them began walking again. The broad smiles on their faces began to ebb as the trees got taller and seemed to sneer down at them. It even seemed to get darker as they walked on, as if the trees were choking the little light left from the setting sun. The women walked closer together, looking around at the suddenly hostile forest.

"I think we're getting close," said Marie, her serious almost whisper contrasting to the mock angry tone she had used only moments ago. Selene glanced back at her to show she heard.

The two women fell prey once more to the pressing silence of the dark woods surrounding them. It almost seemed like the forest was holding its breath; the calm before the storm. Selene spotted a curve in the trail up ahead and a small tendril of fear wiggled in her stomach. What would be waiting around that corner?

'_What if he's already awake?'_ She thought.

She looked around, trying to distract herself from the growing fear in her belly. The silence was horrible. Not even the crickets were chirping. Selene wished for just a breeze to rustle the leaves or a rabbit to run across the path and break the defining silence pressing in on her ears, but there was nothing.

She looked up, trying to see the sky through the tree branches. The trees were so tall and so close together only a sliver of darkening sky could be seen through their branches. It was like looking up from a hole. Selene back ahead as a shiver of fear ran up her back.

'_What if there's something else in the forest? Something worse than him?'_

Selene slowed as she rounded the corner, expecting a dark shadow to descend upon them. There was nothing there. This path seemed the same as the first, but there was another turn not so far away. Selene could feel the fear begin to take her over again.

'_What if it's all just a trap?'_

Selene looked back at Marie. She was white as a sheet!

Selene took her mentor's hand in hers and gave her a reassuring smile. Even though she was scared, she put up a brave front and led Marie along, like she was the child.

A few more turns and a long curved path later, Marie took the lead again.

"We're nearly there. Look!"

Marie pointed and, sure enough, they walked out into a clearing. Selene stopped dead. Right in the center of the ring of trees was a large, distorted, spooky, dead tree. The wind picked up and with the orange background of the setting sun and the dried leaves swirling up around it, that tree looked just plain creepy.

"Here," Marie shoved a checkered red and white picnic blanket into Selene's arms.

"Go set this up over there." She pointed out a spot a ways away from the tree. "I need to get set up for our 'guest'."

Selene turned her back on her and unfolded the blanket, spreading it over the ground. She sat down and watched Marie walk circles around the tree. She'd go all the way to the other side of the clearing then right up over half the blanket. The first time she stopped every few feet and bent down. When she got closer to Selene, Selene could see her placing little wards on sticks into the ground. They looked like little flags. Marie stuck one right in the center of the blanket along the path of the circle.

She went around thrice more, the second time sprinkling water, the third ashes from the fireplace, and the last tying a long line of thread to each little ward, connecting them in a circle. She ended right in front of Selene, tying the end of the thread to the little ward stuck into the blanket.

"There," she said, brushing her hands off like she'd just done some difficult work. "That'll work. Want some bread and milk, Selene?" Marie pulled a loaf of soft bread, a knife, a sealed pitcher, and two cups out of the basket.

Selene laughed at their situation. Here they were, in the middle of the forest, at the base of some creepy old tree at nightfall practically having a picnic.

"So," asked Selene in between bites of bread and sips of milk. "What are we doing here?"

"We're wait-" she gasped and bent down a little.

"Watch! Here it comes!" She whispered fearfully and almost excitedly.

Selene watched the tree, and for a moment nothing happened, but then the sun dipped below the horizon. For a moment everything was dark, but when Marie lit her lantern and hung it on the pole she'd set up, Selene gasped.

The gnarled roots at the base of the tree were moving, waving slowly and pulling back from the tree, opening like a squid's mouth. Selene was at a wrong angle to see what was in it, but a moment later a great black foreleg pushed itself out of the tree, followed by a head and a neck and the body of the great warhorse Daredevil. He leapt out of the tree and there, on his back, was Jaegar, hair flying, leaning forward level with his horse's neck.

Daredevil's large hooves nearly trampled one of the little flags, but Jaegar wheeled his head around and stopped him short. Jaegar looked around from atop the large horse. He spotted Selene and Marie on their blanket with the little lantern dangling above them.

He leant forward, swung his foot around and dismounted, landing with a soft _chink_ from his spurs.

Selene watched him walk toward them, eyes locked with hers. A small part of her mind wondered when she'd stood up.

He walked right up to the edge of their blanket, never breaking eye contact with Selene. His icy blue eyes seemed to hold her hostage, like a mouse in sight of a snake. A deer before a wolf.

Jaegar smiled, showing off his pointed teeth. "_Guten Morgen,_ ladies."

* * *

_I am so sorry for all the readers waiting for me to get my ass in gear, I throw myself upon your mercy!_

_Squee: You'd better..._

_Nox: Will you shut up! You don't have anything to do with this story, Why are you even here?!_

_Squee: Because I'm all in your mind._

_Nox: Oh, yea... -Considers getting a lobotomy-_

_Anyway, I am thinking of posting my latest labyrinth fic here, but before I do I want to know you, my faithful reader, your opinion. I'll need to write more of it before I posy any anyway. Just tell me what you think! Feed my review box! He's Hungry!_

_ **Nox**_


	13. Chapter 12: A Story Time Picnic

**Chapter Twelve**

A Story Time Picnic

They stared at each other for a moment, then Jaegar began to reach across to Selene. She couldn't move, she stood captivated by his eyes. But before he could touch her, he snatched back his hand with a hiss and looked down at the now glowing ward. In fact, all the wards glowed for a moment before fading.

Marie was the one who broke the silence.

"Please," she gestured to the bit of cloth on his side of the flag; "won't you sit down?"

Both Selene and Jaegar sat simultaneously and watched as Marie cut them all slices of bread and fished out another cup from the basket for milk. She placed the bread and milk in front of him, crossing the warded thread line without any problem.

"This was not part of our deal, _Fräulein._" He said.

Marie jumped and Selene gave her a quizzical look before turning back to Jaegar.

"What do you mean? All you said you wanted was for me to come and not run away. You didn't say anything about not bringing Marie."

"I don't care that you brought your friend, _meine Süße ein_, I mind that you've trapped me in this _verdammt_ prison!"

'He seems to talk in German more when he's mad,' Selene thought.

"What do you mean prison?" she asked.

"That would be my doing," said Marie. "It's for our protection."

Jaegar opened his mouth, but Selene beat him to it.

"What the Hell?! Why didn't you tell me about this? Now you've made me break my promise to Jaegar!"

"Not really. Didn't you say you weren't going to run away? This isn't running, it's just giving you no reason to run."

Now Jaegar got his word in. "I gave my word, _mein Wort!_ That I would never harm Selene. This ward is a pointless waste of time and space." He calmly stated in a low, dangerous voice and sipped from his cup.

Marie hid her anger and took a bite of bread.

Selene didn't know how they stayed so calm. Every nerve was on edge, just from his presence. She could smell his unique sent, could swear she felt the heat from his body. She kept her eyes away from his, knowing his would captivate her again. Every time he spoke German with that fluent accent, a small shiver twitched up her spine. She didn't know how much more of this she could take!

Jaegar and Marie exchanged glares over the cloth, continuing their spoken argument.

"If you mean no harm, horseman, than it should not bother you."

"It bothers me not to be trusted, _Frau_."

"What's wrong with English, horseman? Too civilized for your tastes?"

"You're beginning to vex me, _e Hexe_. That is not a wise idea."

"Why? Will you chop off my head like so many others before me?"

"_Ich bin sicher, dass Ihr Körper es, Frau bevorzugen würde!_"

Marie opened her mouth for a smart comeback, but Selene cut her off.

"That's enough!" she shouted, standing up. "You're both acting like children."

Selene moved and sat right on the line of thread, sitting half in and half out of the ward so that they were all facing each other.

"If either one of you insults the other once more, you are banished from the blanket. Understood?"

Marie hung her head and nodded. Jaegar met her angry stare with a cold, piercing one of his own.

"Don't give me any of that! We can always walk away and leave you trapped in here."

He let up on his stare and nodded.

"Good. Now, I'm here, holding up my end of our bargain. Now it's your turn."

"Ah yes, _mein wenig ein_ wants some answers." His broad, wolfish smile returned. He leaned back on the blanket, head close to Selene's lap, legs crossed and hands behind his head.

"Ask your questions, _Schatzi_. I will not lie to you."

Marie gaped at his arrogance but Selene ignored them both.

"First of all, what have you been calling us?"

"I have called your friend _Frau_ and _e Hexe_, 'Woman' and 'Witch'. You I have called many things. _Schatzi_, Treasure. _Mein wenig ein_, my little one. _Meine Süße ein_, my sweet one. I think that's about it, all I can remember anyway."

Selene blushed and avoided his gaze.

"Al- alright then. How about this one, who is this 'Luna' you kept mentioning? Did you really mean what you said to me?"

"_Ja_, every word. I told you, I'd never lie to you, _Fräulein_."

"What did you call me this time?"

"What, _Fräulein_? It means 'little woman' or 'Miss'."

Selene made the mistake of looking into those amused eyes of his and got caught again. His amusement soon grew heated and those terrifying eyes seemed to stare into her very soul.

"How about you just tell us your story, starting from the beginning?" Asked Marie, startling Selene out of it.

Jaegar glared at her, but Selene nodded. "Yea, tell us Jaegar. How did you meet Luna?"

"It's a long story, and this is not a very comfy setting for storytelling…"

"Make yourself at home, it's a large blanket." Said Selene.

"If you insist," He sat up and moved backwards a bit, toward Selene, then put his head down again, but this time in her lap.

Selene looked away from his eyes and saw Marie wide eyed and mouth gaping. Selene tried to hold it in, but she just had to laugh at her.

"Marie, you look just life a fish!" She laughed harder at Marie's indignant expression. Jaegar began to laugh too.

"Hey!" Selene stopped laughing long enough to smack her hand over his mouth. "No one can laugh at Marie but me."

Jaegar pulled her hand away from his face, a mildly humored expression on his face.

"Only you would dare, Selene. Anyone else and I'd take their hand. Remember that, _Fräulein_."

"Is that suppose to be a threat?"

"No, a complement." He closed his eyes lazily.

"Where to begin… I suppose it would start with me getting summoned by the Princes to go to battle against the new country, America. They sent me here and I won many a battle, taking many lives. Ah," he sighed. "Those were the days. Just Daredevil and me.

"Unfortunately, my troops seemed to think I was being too rough on them, so they mutinied. They claimed me a demon and filed my teeth into fangs so I would fit the part. My appearance didn't help matters, either. Especially my eyes, Luna would say." He opened his eyes and stared straight into Selene's.

"I wanted revenge. They betrayed my trust. So I joined the American army. They needed all the help they could get."

Jaegar continued, keeping his eyes locked with Selene's. She could swear she saw the story his voice recounted replay in his eyes.

"One night, we came to Sleepy Hollow to restock on the necessities. I entered the town with only two of my men, not wanting to make a scene. When we'd restocked, I came back to camp to find Daredevil gone and his groom trampled to death."

"What's a groom?" interrupted Selene.

"A groom is someone you hire to look after your horse."

"Oh, that makes sense. Sorry for interrupting."

Jaegar nodded, closed his eyes and began telling again. Selene almost wished he'd open his eyes again.

"I went off looking for him, leaving my head officer in charge. I followed his hoof prints until I came to a meadow. He was out there, but he was not alone. Standing a few feet away was Luna."

Jaegar opened his eyes again, but he wasn't looking at her. He was off in memories.

"I watched her slowly walk up to him. She looked so small compared to that huge horse. I walked up behind her and asked what she thought she was doing. She jumped and looked back at me and said she was catching the horse that she'd seen run from the camp.

"That was the reason I disguised her and took her on as my groom. I wasn't expecting to fall in love with her." He sighed. "But love is blind, and does not care if it rears its head in peace or war. We were together for two glorious, horribly short months."

A sort of sad, pained yet stern expression came over his face as he began the next part of his story. Selene longed to erase that feeling from his countenance.

"She bid me farewell one night I was setting out to battle. She made me swear I'd return, so I did; thinking nothing of it. That was the last time I saw her, and the last battle I ever rode off to. That afternoon a dozen Redcoats caught me alone. They shot Daredevil, _mein glückloses Pferd_. I tried to stay with him, I _wanted_ to stay, but they were closing in on me. I ran.

"I had thought I eluded them in the forest. I stopped short when I found two children in my path, twin girls. I signaled them to be quiet, but one of the brats snapped a branch and as good as called the Redcoats to me. I turned my back on the girls and tried to fight them off, and I was holding my own for awhile. Then one of them got me in the stomach. I fell to my knees, knowing that would be the end of me. I tried to catch my breath kneeling on the ground. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of them grab my sword and the last thing I ever felt was a icy sharp pain on my neck and then nothing more.

I floated between worlds for who knows how long. At first the memory of love kept me aware, but then it became just a dream. I was slowly slipping away, but I swore I'd return to her. My promise kept me afloat. By the time I was finally pulled back from the border of death, I had forgotten why it was that I needed to return so badly. All I knew was I had to obey the one giving me orders. My blade had blood again, my horse was restored to me.

"My memories fully returned to me when I got my head back. The girl in the forest, she sold her soul to keep me here. I searched for Luna, but I had found that she had been exposed as a woman in the army. She was… was executed." His voice broke on the last word.

Selene gently stroked his hair, both comforting him and urging him to continue. He looked at her.

"I tried to cross over, to be with her, but a deal was a deal. That woman sold her soul to keep me here, and I would stay here whether or not she was."

He closed his eyes, but Selene could hear the pain in his voice.

"The first year I mourned her loss. After that I wandered the town, looking for signs of hope. I discovered she could be reborn as another, you can never know how happy that made me. I had so much hope. The first ten years I searched far and wide for her, but I had to keep within distance of my tree. I learned that early on. If I were ever caught in the sunlight, I'd be dragged back to it through Hell."

He closed his eyes again and shuddered.

"The next ten years I waited by Sleepy Hollow, too tired from my mad search. I figured you would come to me some day, after all, this world is big but I'd have forever to wait.

"After that, I'd all but given up hope. I figured you'd never come find me."

Jaegar stared up into her eyes, right into her soul. His expression was happier than it had been in any part of telling his tail.

* * *

_Woot! Well there it is, chapter twelve. I got it out in a week! I'm proud of myself._

_Squee: What for? It took you forever._

_Hang her._

_Squee: What?!_

_-A line of soldiers march out and hand a noose from a tree, then grab ahold of Squee.-_

_Till next time then all! Feed the author, leave rivews._

**_Nox_**


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